Households threw away the equivalent of one billion meals every day around the world in 2022, according to UN estimates, which denounced the global tragedy of food waste.

These calculations for food that can be eaten but is thrown away are at the lower end of the scale. The actual amount could be much higher, according to the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) Food Waste Index report.

“Food waste is a global tragedy. Millions of people will go hungry around the world today while food is thrown away,” said Inger Andersen, UNEP’s executive director.

“It’s just outrageous,” Richard Swanel of the NGO WRAP, who was involved in compiling the report, told Agence France-Presse (AFP).

“We could feed all the people suffering from hunger in the world – there are about 800 million of them – with one meal a day, just with the food that is wasted,” he stressed.

Households accounted for 60% of this wastage, or 631 million tonnes in the world in 2022. Catering services (canteens, restaurants, etc.) “contributed” 28% and supermarkets, butchers and grocery stores all together 12%.

Equivalent to over $1 trillion per year lost unnecessarily, according to estimates.

The report, the second published by the UN on the subject, presents the most comprehensive overview of the situation to date. The extent of the problem has become clearer with improved data collection.

“The more we look into food waste, the more we find,” argues UNEP’s Clementine O’Connor.

Why are we wasting so much food?

Much of the wastage noted at home is linked to people buying more than they really need, misjudging portion sizes and not eating the rest, according to Richard Swanel.

Thus, consumers are throwing away products that could very well be eaten but whose expiration date has passed.

Much food is also lost for reasons other than simple negligence, especially in developing countries, for example because of refrigeration problems.

However, contrary to popular perception, food waste is not only a problem of rich countries and can be observed all over the world.

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From a business perspective, it now costs less to throw away food than to find a more sustainable alternative.

“It’s faster and easier because the taxes on waste are zero or very low,” says Clementine O’Connor.

Food waste, which accounts for nearly a fifth of the food available, is synonymous with environmental failure, the report’s authors say.

It causes up to 10% of the world’s greenhouse gas emissions and requires vast tracts of farmland to grow edible produce that will never be eaten.

If it were a country, “it would be third in greenhouse gas emissions after the United States and China,” notes Richard Swanel. “And yet people don’t give it much thought.”

“We hope this report highlights the opportunity for each of us to reduce our greenhouse gas emissions and save money by simply using the food we already buy better,” he says.