Food Waste Day regularly shows how much food ends up in the garbage each year – in Austria alone there are 900,000 tonnes. Previously it was assumed that a third of food produced was wasted, new WWF research shows the figure is up to 40%. On Food Rescue Day, solutions should be presented that can significantly reduce this value – more on this in More and More Food Rescue Ideas (May 2, 2022).
Fewer temptations needed in retail
Politics and commerce are needed here, but so are consumers themselves, says Dominik Heizmann, a specialist in sustainable nutrition at the WWF, because the temptations at the supermarket are often great: “Now it’s barbecue season and when you go to the supermarket, you sees that meat is offered at bargain prices. This leads consumers to buy more than they really need, and these products often end up in the trash again – so retailers have a very big responsibility for that.”
ORF
“beauty mania” in fruits and vegetables
In this context, it is also necessary to end the “beauty craze” of fruits and vegetables, demands Dominik Heizmann: “Retailers have very strict visual specifications about the appearance of fruits and vegetables – this means that many edible fruits and vegetables are separated or not even picked just because they don’t look as pure as we know them on the shelves. That’s why the motto on Food Rescue Day: ‘end the beauty craze, not the fruits and vegetables’.”
Write shopping lists
According to Heizmann, an easy-to-implement tip for every individual to save groceries is to write a grocery list: and then we’ll really only take home the products that we can use for the next few days.”
Store food properly
But the right food storage can also help you save food: “That means: put the new products in the back of the fridge and put the older products in the front. If we have some leftovers, you can get a lot of recipes from the internet on how to use those leftovers.”
ORF.at/Dominique Hammer
Last but not least, the habit of automatically throwing away food because the expiration date has passed leads to unnecessary waste. Instead, Heizmann advises, “first see it, smell it and taste it, and then our senses immediately recognize whether a food is still edible or not.”
Waste also affects the environment
In general, apart from bread and pastries, fruits and vegetables are thrown away more often, less animal products such as meat, sausage or dairy products – but, according to Heizmann, they have “the biggest negative impact on the environment”. because its production costs the most resources.