Of the world's greenhouse gas emissions come from Food Waste
In Switzerland, that’s the equivalent of 50% of the pollution from private motorized transport.
The facts on Food Waste
A few useful numbers to grasp what the food we don’t eat actually represents, both at a country scale and at a team scale.
The Food Waste figures
In Switzerland, we throw away 89 kilos of food every second
2.8 million tonnes of food end up in the bin every year, around 89 kilos every second, or 330 kg per resident. Switzerland is Europe’s second-biggest waster, just behind Portugal.
Put plainly, it’s as if we threw away one meal out of three.
Worldwide, same story
2.5 billion tonnes go to waste each year, around 40% of all global food production. That’s the weight of 50 cars tossed every second.
Source: ETH Zurich, FOEN, ETH Zurich, Beretta & Hellweg
What we throw away along with the food
Of all the world's productive land
Are used to grow food that will end up in the bin, an area larger than China. In Switzerland, it’s more than half of the country’s farmland.
Of fresh water consumed each year
is used to produce food that will ultimately be wasted.
On the podium of global polluters
The world’s 3rd-biggest emitter
If Food Waste were a country, it’d take the podium among the world’s biggest polluters, right behind China and the United States. It’s responsible for 8 to 10% of global greenhouse gas emissions.
Goal 2030: cut it in half
In Switzerland, the Federal Council has committed to halving avoidable food losses by 2030, in line with the UN’s 2030 Agenda. The payoff: a 10 to 15% drop in the country’s food-related environmental impact.
Sources: WWF Switzerland, UNEP Food Waste Index, FOEN Action Plan against Food Waste, 2022
The other cost: the supply chain
About 20% of Switzerland’s Food Waste happens upstream, at the Producers. Off-size vegetables, fruit that’s too small or too big, harvest surplus with no buyer. For the farmer, as for the food-industry SME, those are weeks of work that’ll never be paid for.
Sources: FOEN / La Vie économique
From one business to another
In Switzerland, 80% of a farming family’s income depends on the sale of its produce. Every crate turned down for cosmetic reasons hits that income directly. For a company, choosing Imperfect over standard takes nothing away from the quality of the product. And it pays better tribute to the work that went into it.
Source: Swiss Farmers’ Union
Which foods are wasted the most worldwide?
Which foods are wasted the most worldwide?
Waste hits every kind of food, but on average around the world it’s first vegetables (25%), followed by cereals (24%) and fruit (12%).
That’s why we’re tackling vegetables and fruit first.
Source: FOEN
