Why is food waste a problem that every one of us has to worry about?

The numbers speak for themselves. It is enough to look at the big picture about the extent of the phenomenon and its serious economic, social and environmental impacts.

Every year, 1/3 of global food production for human consumption is lost or wasted. That translates to 1.3 billion tons of food.

At the European Union level, the annual waste of food is estimated at around 88 million tons of food, which means that every European represents an average of 173 kilograms of food waste per year.

In fact, it is estimated that the relative cost of food wastage in the EU amounts to EUR 143 billion annually.

The social dimension of the issue is, of course, intense, namely the acute situation of coexistence of food waste with food insecurity and poverty (55 million people in the EU). In Greece, 1/3 of the population is faced with the risk of poverty or social exclusion.

Regarding the global environmental dimension, food waste is responsible for about 8% of total anthropogenic greenhouse gas emissions.

If food waste was a country, it would hold the third highest position in producing greenhouse gas emissions in the world, after China and the US. It should be noted that food waste in the landfill produces methane, a gas 25 times more harmful than carbon dioxide.

Moreover, when we throw away food, we also squander all the resources and inputs used to produce it. Indicatively, it is sufficient to refer to the circle of bread, where from the field up to our plate more than 1,000 liters of water is required for just one loaf.

In a world with limited resources, is it possible to produce food that ends up in trash?

There's good news! Each of us can contribute, individually and through collective activity, to reduce food waste around us.