Over one billion tonnes of food wasted each year: UN

Some 19% of food produced around the world ended up as waste in 2022, equivalent to around 1.05 billion metric tonnes of food, according to a new study by the United Nations, report agencies.

In the Food Waste Index Report published on Wednesday, the UN said households and businesses binned more than one trillion dollars’ worth of food at a time when more than 780 million people were going hungry.

“Food waste is a global tragedy. Millions will go hungry today as food is wasted across the world,” Inger Andersen, executive director of the UN Environment Programme, said in a statement.

Such wastage was not just a moral but “environmental failure”, the report said.

Food loss and waste generate 8 to 10 percent of global greenhouse gas emissions. If it were a country, it would rank third after China and the United States.

The report, co-authored with non-profit organisation WRAP, is the second on global food waste compiled by the UN and provides the most complete picture to date.

Conservative estimate

The report said that the “billion meals” daily figure was a “very conservative estimate” and “the real amount could be much higher”.

“For me, it’s just staggering,” Richard Swannell from WRAP told news agency AFP.