Food waste year after year generates the loss of thousands of tons of food, the generation of large quantities of organic waste and large economic losses, due to a deficient food production, distribution and consumption system.
Evolution of food waste in different production sectors in EU
Source:Prepared by Rezero on the basis data from Eurostat
In 2021, households generated 54% of food waste (70 kg per capita), way higher than the amount of food waste from the primary sector and food and beverage manufacturing sector (9% and 21%, respectively). This shows that these sectors already have strategies in order to reduce this type of waste.
Restaurants and food services generated 9% of total food waste and, finally, retail trade and other food distribution was the sector with the least amount of food waste: 7% of total food waste generated.
However, these data may not fully reflect the reality, as the impact of covid-19 on the catering and food distribution sector is still being analyzed.