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Schätzungen ergeben in Österreich dem WWF zufolge eine jährliche Menge vermeidbarer Lebensmittelverschwendung von rund einer Million Tonnen, knapp die Hälfte davon entstehe in den Haushalten. (Symbolfoto)
© Frank May
Vienna: One third of the food produced worldwide is not consumed, but causes up to ten percent of global greenhouse gas emissions. In the EU alone, 88 million tonnes of food is lost or thrown away, according to a WWF report. Converted throughout the value chain, it is an average loss of 173 kilos per person per year. Therefore, WWF calls for food waste to be cut in half by 2030.
Food waste causes high economic damage, which, according to estimates available to the European Union, amounts to around 143,000 million euros annually, the NGO reported. This would include costs for producers and processing companies who (have to) dispose of edible products, for example, because they do not meet the desired standards in the market in terms of size and aesthetics.
High household and retail costs
Retailers have additional expenses, as they lose spoiled products during transport and throw away unsold products. High costs also arise for households that dispose of a particularly large quantity of edible food, for example due to purchasing too large quantities or not knowing that the expiration date does not correspond to the expiration date. Finally, there is also the effort involved in the collection, disposal and treatment of waste.
According to WWF, the contribution to the climate crisis is politically underestimated: food waste alone causes up to 16 percent of total emissions from the food chain in the European Union. “The less food is wasted the better, but there is little or nothing in the climate plans,” said Olivia Herzog of WWF Austria, who on the occasion of tomorrow’s first International Day Against Food Waste by the EU Commission and the El The federal government called for an effective action plan.
Around a million tons of avoidable waste
According to WWF estimates, there is an annual amount of avoidable food waste in Austria of around one million tonnes, almost half of which occurs in households. The VinziMarkt saves twelve tonnes a day, Vinzenzgemeinschaft reported on Monday. In the ten Austrian markets, goods that have been discarded (for example, because they were incorrectly labeled, slightly damaged or expired, but consumption is still verified) are sold at a maximum price of 30 per cent of normal value.
Cities can make a difference when it comes to avoiding food waste, emphasized the operators of the “Too Good To Go” app, which allows businesses such as restaurants, hotels and supermarkets to sell excess food at a discount to self-collectors. To win the fight against waste, a framework should be created that can be used by cities around the world, he said in a broadcast. This should be based on four basic principles: Separation of organic waste from all other types of waste; Measure and track what is wasted and who is wasting it; Redistribution of surplus food using one of the low-cost solutions freely available; Convert all food that cannot be consumed into energy, fuel or feed. (WHAT)
