It’s the most comprehensive look yet at global food waste: 1 billion metric tons of food was thrown away in 2019, the U.N. Environment Program calculates. The researchers analyzed food waste data from 54 countries, their recommendations are surprising.

In the trash instead of on the plate: According to a recent United Nations report, around 931 million tons of food were thrown away worldwide in 2019 - 17 percent of all ready-to-consume food. Private households account for the largest share of this waste, followed only by restaurants and supermarkets. Moreover, the problem does not only affect industrialized countries, according to the Food Waste Index Report 2021.

Day after day, food ends up in the waste garbage cans of private households, retailers, and restaurants, even though many of it would still have been fit for consumption. The waste not only costs money but also pollutes the climate and the environment. In 2015, the United Nations, therefore, set as one of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) that food waste per capita should be halved by 2030.
Almost one in five food items is thrown away

In the Food Waste Index Report 2021, the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) reports on the current state of food waste worldwide. According to the report, an estimated 931 million tons of food was thrown away in 2019 - 17 percent of all food available to consumers. “The weight is roughly equivalent to 23 million fully-loaded 40-ton trucks - enough to circle the globe seven times,” according to a United Nations press release.

The total weight of all food waste was weighed, meaning not only edible and spoiled food, but also inedible parts such as bones and shells. The current report represents the most comprehensive data collection, analysis, and modeling on this topic to date. Data from 54 countries were included. Fourteen of them collect data exactly as required for the Food Waste Index; for the others, estimates were derived from existing data points.
Germany ranks in the middle

According to the analysis, private households account for the largest share of waste: Eleven percent of all consumable food ends up in their trash cans. The figures for restaurants and supermarkets are five and two percent respectively. At 75 kilograms per capita per year, Germany’s food waste is in the middle of the pack. Edible food accounts for around half of this amount, with inedible parts making up the rest.