Food waste

Food waste is generated at all stages of the food chain, from primary production to households. Food waste includes originally edible food waste and originally inedible parts of food such as coffee grounds, vegetable peels and bones.  

Food waste causes multiple and widespread adverse effects worldwide. Food production consumes many resources, including water and energy, which, if wasted, cause emissions to air and water. Indeed, it is estimated that food waste is responsible for 8–9% of climate change emissions and takes up a third of the land needed for agriculture.

In Finland, the average annual food waste generation is 116 kg per person and edible food waste generation 65 kg per person. This amounts to 641 million kilos, of which about half is generated in households (53 kg/person). After households, the largest share is generated in food industry (29 kg/person), restaurants and food services (14 kg/person), retail and wholesale (10 kg/person) and the smallest in primary production (9 kg/person). Household waste is the responsibility of each of us personally and is difficult to influence from outside. Of course, appropriate guidance and instruction do make a difference. Businesses generally seek to minimize their costs and waste: Thus, there is an opportunity to find suitable targets to increase both waste prevention and reuse. The waste fractions generated by businesses are larger in volume, making it easier to plan for reuse. 

Food thrown away in the trash is out of the human food consumption and nutrition, so it would be a priority to ensure that the food ends up in its intended place, as human food. According to the waste hierarchy, any surplus food should be used for human consumption, then for animal feed, and only finally for energy production. In a circular economy, organic matter is recycled, and nutrients are reused in food production. 

The waste hierarchy and the circular economy require waste to be prevented, reused, redistributed and recycled into new products and soil improvement. Best practices for waste reduction and reuse must be considered at all stages of the food chain. A wide range of actions are needed because the means of reduction vary at different stages of the chain. They also vary according to the type of business or activity.

Preventing food waste requires different tools. For example, digital solutions have been developed to measure and record waste volumes and facilitate redistribution. The Biomass Atlas is being tested to see what potential it has to reduce food waste. Vantaa was chosen as a pilot area, where relatively new data on fractions generated in different sectors was available. The data for Vantaa has been added to the Atlas on a regional basis to see exactly where food waste is generated. This will make the data available to potential recovery operators. The pilot will help to identify what information is still missing and whether some data should be further refined.