“Food Rescue Day”: One million tons end up in the garbage every year

Around the world, 30 to 40 percent of the food produced is lost along the value chain – i.e. from the field to the plate – without being used. In Germany, almost a million tons of food are disposed of every year. If you were to load this amount of 18 tons into trucks and line them up, you would form a convoy from Vienna to Zurich.

Majority of waste from private households

According to the association “Land creates life”, private households are responsible for about 58 percent of the food wasted in Austria. On the other hand, only around 14 percent should come from processing, nine percent from supermarkets and wholesalers and 19 percent from out-of-home consumption (gastronomy and communal kitchens) come.

A large part of the food ending up in the garbage could be avoided. Because food is often not eaten in time, so it has to be thrown away or disposed of even though it is still edible. “To counteract this, we need to build up more knowledge about food from an early age,” says Maria Fanninger, founder of “Land creates life”.

Save two monthly purchases

“Around ten percent of global greenhouse gas emissions are due to food waste,” says Dominik Heizmann, spokesman for sustainable nutrition at the Worldwide Fund for Nature (WWF) Austria. According to the environmental organization, wasting resource-intensive foods such as meat is particularly harmful to the environment.

A more careful handling of food not only has a positive effect on the climate, but also on one’s own wallet, according to the “Land creates life” association. An average household with 2.2 people in this country disposes of goods worth around 800 euros a year. The association calculates that this is slightly more than the average spent on food and non-alcoholic beverages at home in two months. This means that those who waste less save the costs of up to two monthly purchases.

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Five-point plan and obligation to report

On Food Rescue Day, the WWF is calling for a five-point plan to at least halve food waste by 2030: These include more education, the decision on binding targets for all sectors of the value chain, a clear hierarchy in dealing with food surpluses, the promotion of Food transfer and an improvement in the data situation.

Regarding the latter, an amendment to the Waste Management Act (AWG) was passed in the National Council on Wednesday. This stipulates that grocers will in future have to contact the Ministry of the Environment must report every three months how much food they throw away or donate to social institutions. This amendment will take effect at the beginning of the fourth quarter. Small companies or direct sellers are exempt from this, the registration obligation for dealers only applies to sales areas of 400 square meters or more or five sales outlets. From the point of view of trade association the amendment to the AWG is a misstep and not a solution to the “fundamental problem” of food waste, to which retail only contributes a small percentage.

Donate food instead of wasting it

What can consumers do to save food?

1. BKnowing how to shop: Creating shopping lists and paying special attention to bulk sales helps to only buy what is really needed
2. Rely on your own senses, not just on the expiry date: if stored correctly Food can often still be enjoyed without hesitation even after the best-before date has expired
3. Donate food to social markets
4. Use apps: Excess food from restaurants and shops can be saved with the help of apps like “Too Good to Go”.

Do you have any other tips for saving food in everyday life? Let us know your ideas in the comments.