at least one billion meals were thrown away every day around the world in 2022, according to the UN

Households represented 60% of this waste, or 631 million tonnes worldwide in 2022 out of more than a billion in total.

A number “mind-boggling”. The equivalent of a billion meals was thrown away every day around the world in 2022, according to estimates from the UN, which denounced on Wednesday March 27 the “global tragedy” food waste. This estimate of edible food wasted is on the low end of the range, and “the real amount could be much higher”according to the United Nations Environment Program (UNEP) Food Waste Index report.

“Food waste is a global tragedy. Millions of people will go hungry today around the world as food is thrown away”lamented Inger Andersen, executive director of UNEP. “It’s just mind-boggling,” reacted to AFP Richard Swannell, of the British environmental NGO Wrap, who participated in writing the report. “We could feed all the hungry people in the world – there are around 800 million – with one meal a day, just from the food that is wasted”he emphasizes.

The equivalent of more than 1,000 billion dollars per year thrown away

Households were responsible for 60% of this waste, or 631 million tonnes worldwide in 2022 out of more than a billion in total. Catering services (canteens, restaurants, etc.) accounted for 28% and supermarkets, butchers and grocery stores of all kinds for 12%. This is the equivalent of more than 1,000 billion dollars per year (924 billion euros) thrown away unnecessarily, according to estimates.

This report, the second published by the UN on the subject, provides the most comprehensive overview to date. And the scale of the problem has become clearer as data collection has improved. “The more we look for food waste, the more we find”, underlines Clementine O’Connor, of UNEP. Much food is also lost for reasons other than simple neglect, particularly in developing countries, for example due to refrigeration problems.

Waste generates up to 10% of global greenhouse gas emissions

Much of the waste that takes place at home is linked to people buying more than they really need, misjudging portion sizes and not eating leftovers, according to Richard Swannell. Consumers also throw away products that are perfectly edible but whose expiration date has passed.

This waste, which concerns almost a fifth of the food available, is synonymous with“environmental failure”point out the authors of the report: it generates up to 10% of greenhouse gas emissions worldwide and requires immense agricultural land to grow crops that will never be eaten.