About 40% of food produced worldwide is lost along the value chain without being used. In purely mathematical terms, all food produced between the beginning of the year and May 26 is never consumed. WWF Austria is therefore proclaiming “Food Rescue Day”.
AUSTRIA. Globally, so much food is thrown away each year that, arithmetically, all food produced from the beginning of the year until May 26 is wasted.
Previously, it was assumed that about a third of the food produced was wasted. New research for the agricultural sector pushes the mark to around 40% – so Food Rescue Day falls on May 26 for the first time.
Food waste as a climate killer
And did you know that food waste is responsible for about ten percent of global greenhouse gas emissions? Added to this is the unnecessary use of space, water and energy. Austria contributes to waste with over 900,000 tonnes of food waste every year. To transport that amount, around 50,000 trucks are needed, which would form a traffic jam from Vienna to Zurich.
In Austria, we throw away at our four walls six times more than supermarkets and wholesalers combined.
Halve food waste by 2030
Environmental protection organization WWF calls on the federal government to at least halve food waste by 2030: “We urgently need improved data along the entire value chain to analyze the source of losses in general and define targets and measures mandatory reductions for all interested parties”, says WWF-Expert Heizmann. “Politicians should review and reform all relevant laws and regulations in relation to their waste generation potential. In addition, public awareness of the value of our food must be strengthened.”
“Beauty mania, don’t put your fruits and vegetables in the bucket!”
According to the WWF, in Austria alone, at least one million tonnes of avoidable food waste is generated every year – more than the entire population of Carinthia and Salzburg eats. In addition to bread and cakes, fruits and vegetables most often end up in the trash can. WWF Austria wants to create more awareness of the value of fruit and vegetables under the slogan “Bucket the beauty craze, not your fruit and vegetable”.
Many edible fruits and vegetables are unnecessarily sorted early in the value chain. The main reason for this is commercial standards that specify uniform sizes, shapes, or colors. This often leads to perfectly edible fruits and vegetables not being sold – or not being harvested: “Nature does not meet the aesthetic norms set by the market. No fruit or vegetable should end up in the bin due to an unusual shape or purely external faults,” says Heizmann. The trade must therefore also offer bent fruit and vegetables attractively in the supermarket and create more sales markets for B products.
Beware of Discounts – Meat in the Trash is a Climate Killer
The biggest negative impact on the environment is caused by the waste of animal foods such as meat and dairy products – which is why they need to be handled with special care: “Especially during barbecue season, discounts lead you to buy more what fits on your plate. So you should only buy as many perishables as you can safely consume in the next few days. This is good for your wallet and good for the environment,” says WWF’s Dominik Heizmann. Trade, therefore, also bears a great responsibility – meat price dumping tempts people to buy more than they really need.
Buy more consciously
“Politics and business must take responsibility together to end food waste. At the same time, however, we can all contribute by paying more attention to the production, origin and quality of food at the time of purchase and less to the purely visual properties,” says Heizmann.
families are needed
The origins of food waste can be found in agricultural production, processing, retail and consumption outside the home – but above all in private households. For Hannes Royer, president of the Terra creates life association, this issue shows the clear need for consumer action: “Especially when it comes to food waste, each individual has a lot of power to improve something. But our consumer behavior and how we deal with food are sometimes completely contradictory: we buy a lot of the cheapest stuff only to throw it away later – even though food prices are constantly rising. We could easily save money here by throwing less away. After all, our food waste is around 800 euros per household and per year.”
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WWF calls for halving food waste by 2030