Food waste is not reduced in Spain, a conclusion that becomes clear when looking at global figures for food consumed. They are not used both inside and outside the housethat is, they are thrown away, an increase of 1.1% in 2023 compared to the previous year.
According to data from the Report on Food Waste in Spain 2023 of the Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food, in our country 3.9% of total food and drink was wasted purchased for consumption inside and outside homes.
Food waste reached last year the 1,214.76 million kilos/litersof this quantity, 1,183.42 million kg/l was wasted inside the house.
All these data are given since the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) commemorates the International Food Loss and Waste Awareness Day, Sunday September 29.
More awareness in homes
However, inside homes we are more aware, since the number of households that “did not waste food increased by 4.4% in 2023 compared to the previous year», as the ministry highlights in the latest report on food waste in Spain.
SO, The percentage of households that wasted food decreased by 13.2% between 2020 and 2023. In total, 1,183.42 million kg/l were wasted at home, a figure distributed among 12.74 million households, a trend that the ministry considers “positive”.
waste radiography
By type, unprocessed products were wasted more often than cooked meals: 76.4% versus 23.6%, respectively. Despite this, their waste increased by more than two points compared to the previous year.
Concerning food, the report indicates that in 2023 Better use of fruits, vegetables and pasta was observed (28,520 kilos less waste) compared to lpeaches and dairy derivatives, legumes and meats fresh (4,920 kilos of additional waste).
Out of the house
Likewise, the research concludes that waste outside the home (31.34 million kg/l) was reduced by 0.4% in 2023. According to Agriculture, this shows that the decreasing direction observed since 2021.
In turn, the percentage of consumers who waste wasted outside the home decreased by 4.7% compared to the previous year. According to the text, this trend, due to changes in the habits of the Spaniards, such as rise of teleworking already one greater social awareness.
Teleworking and inflation
Furthermore, the waste outside the house (31.34 million kg/l) decreased by 0.4% in 2023. This continues the downward trend observed since 2021. Likewise, the percentage of consumers who wasted outside the home decreased 4.7% compared to the previous year.
A trend which, according to the report, is due to the change in the habits of Spaniards. The rise of teleworking is an example. use food better for the price rise and greater societal awareness which leads to better menu planning.
Avoid food waste
For all these reasons, the minister of the branch, Luis Planas, stressed that the organization will continue to work so that the percentage of households that waste food continues to reduce because Nothing is thrown away hereas indicated in the institutional campaign to avoid food waste.
At the same time, he emphasized the important role that the future will play Food Loss and Waste Prevention Actwhich is currently in the parliamentary process and will try to promote the good practices of primary producers, in the harvesting and collection phase of food, to consumers, either at home or in bars and restaurants.
Plan and reuse
From Day group It should be noted that 80% of waste generated at home corresponds to an unused product and the rest are leftovers from recipes prepared at home.
Faced with these data, the Dia supermarket chain emphasizes that a good “planningthe good conservation and learn tips for reuse “Foods are high-value tools to enable every household to optimize their food spending.”
“Planning menus and preparing the shopping list with what you need is a very useful tool for avoid unnecessary expenses when purchasing”, are other recommendations from Dia.
Added to this is an increasingly widespread trend to save time, money and reduce food waste: making reverse purchase.
Reverse purchase
This simple technique consists of First check the pantry, refrigerator and freezer. to know what you really need and above all avoid accumulating fresh products which can end up in the trash due to lack of planning.
If in addition, when purchasing, youpick seasonal fruits and vegetablesHE They take advantage of offers and discount coupons and opt for home cookingthe household budget is optimized as much as possible, as recommended by the Decalogue for eating better every day.
In addition to this decalogue, as part of the Eat Better Everyday program, Dia facilitates the planning of healthy menus with a wide variety of recipes that rely on healthy foods, which are those that offer high nutritional density, are easy to integrate into the diet and have an affordable price per serving.
Another key to avoiding food waste is to storage and learn some tips for using leftovers from a recipe prepared at home.
Half a kilo of food per week
The latest food waste figures, provided by Eurostat, reveal that one person in Spain, the equivalent of 30 kilos of food is wasted at home every year.
From Too Good To Go they point out that this means that every Spaniard is wasting more than half a kilo of food per week (0.570 kg) and approximately 2.3 kilos of food per month. Additionally, they point out that with the food thrown away at home each year, 47 plates of food could be prepared.
And all this waste has a significant economic impact. And that’s it Each Spaniard wastes around 250 euros per year on food. If we consider that a person’s annual expenditure on food and drink is 2,732 euros per year, this means that 9.1% of this budget is allocated to wasted food, or what amounts to shopping in vain 33 days a year.
