The facts about food waste
Discover the key facts and figures behind the challenge of food waste in Switzerland and around the world.
Food waste in numbers
In Switzerland, we throw away 260 kilos of food every second
That’s a total of 2.8 million tons per year or 37% of all food production. Simply put, it’s like throwing away one out of every three meals…
The same battle worldwide
Globally, 2.5 billion tons of food end up in the trash each year. That’s 40% of all food production or the equivalent weight of 50 cars per second!
Sources: ETHZ
The impact goes beyond wasted food
Of global greenhouse gas emissions are caused by food waste
In Switzerland, food waste generates as much CO₂ as 50% of emissions from private road traffic.
Of all productive land on Earth
Is used to grow food that ultimately gets thrown away. That’s more land than the entire country of China. In Switzerland, it exceeds half of the available agricultural land.
of the world's freshwater use
Is used to produce food that will eventually be wasted.
Waste contributes significantly to climate change
Food waste: A heavyweight in climate change
If food waste were a country, it would rank among the top global polluters, right behind the U.S. and China.
It’s responsible for roughly 10% of global greenhouse gas emissions.
In Switzerland, the environmental impact is massive
If Switzerland cut its food waste in half, the environmental impact of food consumption would decrease by 10–15%. This would be equivalent to removing 1 to 2 million cars from circulation (or 39% of all vehicles in the country).
Source: WWF, BFU, OpenKnowledge
The weight of 250,000 trucks lined up from Zurich to Madrid
That’s the weight of our 2.8 million tons of food waste in Switzerland.
50% of car traffic pollution in Switzerland
Food waste across the supply chain causes as much pollution as half of all car traffic in the country.
Which foods are wasted the most globally?
Food waste affects all types of food. But on average, vegetables (25%), grains (24%), and fruits (12%) are the most affected.
That’s why we focus first and foremost on saving fruits and vegetables.
Source: FOEN
