From Food Waste to Circular & Sustainable Animal Food Products
Dutch and international best practices across the food chain driving systemic change and reducing climate impact together.
On November 2 and 3, 2026, Food Waste Free United in collaboration with Wageningen University & Research will host an international conference at Hotel De Bilderberg. The conference focuses on the large-scale valorisation of former foodstuffs and food by-products into animal feed, resulting in more sustainable animal products. The conference will bring together leading actors from across the globe who are working on making animal products more sustainable by utilizing food waste as feed.
The two-day conference will convene companies, public organizations, scientific organizations and civil society organizations with shared ambitions to scale circular solutions that reduce food waste, improve resource efficiency and lower emissions across the food and feed supply chain.
Why
Former foodstuffs and side streams from retail and food production offer major opportunities to reduce food waste, lower CO2 emissions, and strengthen strategic autonomy in feed and animal protein production. However, large-scale valorisation for more sustainable animal products requires aligned business models, enabling regulation, robust impact accounting and cooperation across the entire chain. By sharing best practices and concrete solutions, this conference aims to accelerate implementation and scaling across Europe and other parts of the world.
Organizer & partners
Food Waste Free United is the Dutch public private foundation committed to reducing food waste by 50% by 2030. In this collaboration, Wageningen University & Research (WUR) plays a pivotal role by providing scientific expertise and innovative solutions to accelerate the transition toward circular food and feed systems. Within the Circular Animal Protein Chain, stakeholders have been collaborating for several years to transform food side streams into more sustainable animal products through feed. The conference is powered by the Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries, Food Security and Nature.
Participants
All international partners who can actively contribute to scaling circular animal products are invited to the conference, including retailers, food manufacturers and processors, feed producers and suppliers, wholesalers and food service chains, industry associations, non-profit organizations, knowledge and research institutes, as well as policymakers and regional, national and local public authorities.
Program
On stage - day 1
Transforming retail former foodstuffs into animal feed at scale: Lidl & FeedValid
Sustainable chain concepts and partnerships: Oranjehoen & Compass, Kipster United States
Reducing CO2e-emmissions from animal products: Albert Heijn with Van Loon and other value chain partners plus Wageningen University & Research (WUR)
Policy dialogue on TSE regulation and the obstacles to using residual streams as feed: Norwegian Food Safety Authority, Dutch Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries, Food Security and Nature
In the afternoon you will be able to join interactive sessions on:
Valorising professional kitchen residual streams as animal feed with WUR and experts from Japan
Policy role play - Nexus game from WUR
Chain dialogue about the role of sustainable animal products in a sustainable food system: WUR and Market Programme for Sustainability of Animal Products
We will end the day with a networking dinner in the greenhouse on location. Of course, the menu practices what the conference preaches, offering a tasty way to bring the day's themes full circle.
Site visits - day 2
Discover the full potential of grass at Grassa: see how the world's most abundant crop can be transformed into high-value ingredients for animal feed and human food.
See for yourself how Duynie’s multifeed concept (combination feeding system of compound and liquid feed) can make the agri-industry more sustainable by maximising resource use.
Find out how Darling Ingredients turns materials from the food industry into ingredients for food and feed.
As soon as there is more information, we will publish it on this website.
Interested?
We warmly invite you to join us and be part of this international dialogue. Please mark 2-3 November 2026 in your calendar and register by filling out this form:
Conference location
Hotel De Bilderberg
Utrechtseweg 261
6862 AK Oosterbeek
The Netherlands
Accommodation
To support conference participants, we have arranged a special discounted hotel rate with Bilderberg Hotel De Bilderberg. This rate is exclusively available to attendees of the conference “From Food Waste to Circular & Sustainable Animal Food Products”. Read more via the button below:
