Some waste food and others run out of it. So “a global tragedy” highlighted by the UN, Wednesday March 27, 2024. According to the estimates of the international organization – which is a low estimate –, at least one billion meals were thrown away every day around the world in 2022. “Food waste is a global tragedy. Millions of people will go hungry today around the world as food is thrown away”, commented Inger Andersen, director of the United Nations Environment Program (UNEP). The finding is even more alarming if we compare this figure to world hunger. “We could feed all the hungry people in the world – there are around 800 million – with one meal a day, just with the food that is wasted“added Richard Swannell, from the British environmental NGO Wrap and co-author of the Food Waste Index report.
Households are the biggest food wasters
The scourge of wasted edible food has affected everyone in 2022, starting with households themselves. According to the report, 60% of food waste took place within householdseither 631 million tonnes of food thrown away in the world in 2022. In France alone, it is the equivalent of 67 euros of food that would be wasted each month, according to a study carried out in 2022 by Censuswide for HelloFresh, or between 26% and 50% purchased products that end up in the trash. Just behind, we find catering services (canteens, restaurants, etc.) which represented 28% of this food waste. Faced with this observation, initiatives have emerged like these restaurateurs who tried to overcharge for unfinished plates. Finally, supermarkets, butchers and grocery stores were responsible for 12% of this waste. Faced with this sad reality, many ideas have emerged to help consumers waste less, ranging from raising awareness to tips and applications offering recipes or advice. But the causes are diverse, including ignorance of expiration dates, poor calculation of quantities or a refusal to eat leftovers. Other bad news is that food waste has also negative consequences on the environment. It is responsible for 10% of greenhouse gas emissions, according to the UN report.