{"id":36130,"date":"2025-06-12T17:20:35","date_gmt":"2025-06-12T15:20:35","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.co2news.sk\/?p=36130"},"modified":"2025-06-12T17:21:18","modified_gmt":"2025-06-12T15:21:18","slug":"consumer-behavior-and-food-waste-in-the-eu","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.co2news.sk\/en\/2025\/06\/12\/consumer-behavior-and-food-waste-in-the-eu\/","title":{"rendered":"Consumer behaviour and food waste in the EU"},"content":{"rendered":"

According to Eurostat estimates, in the EU there are approximately 132 kg<\/strong> of food wasted per person per year, which is more than 59 million tons<\/strong> of waste annually. More than half of this (54 %) is generated by households (\u224872 kg\/person\/year); the rest of the waste It is mainly generated in food production (19 %, 25 kg\/person), restaurant and catering services (11 %, 15 kg\/person), retail trade (8 %, 11 kg\/person) and primary agricultural production (8 %, 10 kg\/person). This sectoral breakdown is shown in Figure 1.<\/p>\n

The most common reasons for food waste in households<\/h5>\n
    \n
  • Insufficient planning of shopping and meals.<\/strong> Consumers often do not shop with a clear plan or are primarily impulsive when it comes to promotions (e.g. \u201cbuy 1 + get 1 free\u201d), which leads to purchasing larger quantities than they are able to consume.<\/li>\n
  • Date markings (use by, shelf life).<\/strong> Confusion around \u201cbest before\u201d vs. \u201cuse by\u201d labels often causes food to be thrown away sooner than necessary.<\/li>\n
  • Poor storage and processing of leftovers.<\/strong> Lack of knowledge and habits regarding proper storage (controlled temperature, packaging) or using leftovers means that food often spoils before it is consumed. Short opening times, unsuitable fresh packaging or packaging that is difficult to remove also contribute to waste.<\/li>\n
  • Economic factors.<\/strong> The relatively low price of food leads to low motivation to save - consumers would rather throw away excess food (e.g. bread, dairy products) than consume it.<\/li>\n
  • Aesthetic reasons.<\/strong> People often throw away food due to minor cosmetic damage (scratched apples, uneven shape of vegetables), even if the products are healthy.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n
    The most wasteful food categories<\/h5>\n

    The most commonly thrown away foods in households include: fruits and vegetables<\/strong>, pastries and other bakery products<\/strong>, meat (including fish and poultry)<\/strong> a dairy products<\/strong>These four groups account for the majority of food waste. For example, in the retail sector, the greatest potential waste reduction is expected for products such as milk, yoghurts, fresh juices and chilled meat and fish.<\/p>\n

    Differences between Member States<\/h5>\n

    The level of food waste varies significantly across EU countries. According to Eurostat, the highest per capita waste levels were recorded in Cyprus, Belgium and Denmark in 2020, while the lowest were produced by residents of Slovenia, Croatia and Sweden. There is no clear \u201cnorth-south\u201d or \u201ceast-west\u201d pattern between regions: for example, Scandinavia contains countries with both high (Denmark) and low (Sweden) waste. Overall, however, waste tends to be slightly higher in countries with traditionally higher incomes.<\/p>\n

    Demographic factors<\/h5>\n
      \n
    • Household size:<\/strong> The most waste in families is produced by single-person households and families with small children, due to inefficient packaging and menus.<\/li>\n
    • Age:<\/strong> Young adults (especially under 25) throw away more food than older age groups.<\/li>\n
    • Income:<\/strong> In general, wealthier households and people with higher incomes or jobs waste more food than poorer residents.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n
      Impact on carbon footprint and climate<\/h5>\n

      Food waste has a significant impact on the environment and climate. In the EU, food waste accounts for approximately 250\u2013260 mil. tons of CO\u2082 equivalent<\/strong> per year (as of 2021), which is equivalent to about 16 % of emissions from the entire EU food chain. Globally, food waste contributes approximately 10 %<\/strong> to global anthropogenic greenhouse gas emissions. Food waste thus means the unnecessary release of carbon dioxide, methane and other gases that might not have been produced if the food had been consumed. Sustainable food production requires extensive resources \u2013 for example, around 12 % of total water consumption and 16 % of agricultural land in the EU are tied to food that is ultimately not used (thrown away). Moreover, the energy-intensive production of meat and animal products means that even relatively small amounts of meat waste represent a significant part of the environmental footprint; the FAO estimates that although meat accounts for only ~5 % of all food waste, it contributes to more than 20 % of the carbon footprint of food waste. Reducing food waste is therefore an important climate action.<\/p>\n

      Latest EU and Member State initiatives<\/h5>\n

      The European Union has been strengthening measures to reduce waste in recent years. As part of the "European Green Deal", the Commission proposed binding targets by 2030<\/strong> \u2013 reducing waste by 10 % in food production and by 30 % per capita in retail and consumption (households + restaurants). This proposal (revision of the Waste Directive) has already reached a provisional political agreement (February 2025) to maintain these targets. The EU has also issued food donation guidelines<\/strong> (tzw. Food Donation Guidelines, 2017) and the use of non-food items as feed to maximize the use of surplus food before it is thrown away. Strategy Farm to Fork<\/strong> (2020) highlighted the need to promote a sustainable food system, including waste prevention. The Commission is further supporting grants to improve waste measurement and prevention (HaDEA programme 2022-2026) and creating platforms for the exchange of best practices between countries.<\/p>\n

      At national level, Member States have their own strategies and legislation. For example, Germany has adopted National strategy to reduce food waste<\/strong> with the aim of halving waste by 2030. Other countries are also supporting the donation of food leftovers from the public and private sectors (through tax incentives or voluntary commitments) and the widespread composting of leftovers. However, the EEA warns that many Member States are still relying mainly on education and monitoring, while legislative and financial instruments (e.g. stricter regulations or subsidies for waste prevention) are often insufficient. Overall, it is expected that new approaches (such as binding EU targets) will encourage Member States to scale up effective measures and technological solutions to reduce food waste.<\/p>\n

      Table 1:<\/strong> Breakdown of food waste in the EU by sector (2022).<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n
      Sector<\/th>\nShare (%)<\/th>\nkg\/person\/year<\/th>\n<\/tr>\n<\/thead>\n
      Households<\/td>\n54 %<\/td>\n72<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
      Food and beverage production<\/td>\n19 %<\/td>\n25<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
      Restaurant and catering sector<\/td>\n11 %<\/td>\n15<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
      Retail and distribution<\/td>\n8 %<\/td>\n11<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
      Primary production (farms)<\/td>\n8 %<\/td>\n10<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n

      Sources:<\/strong> Eurostat, FAO, EEA and EU studies, Spring<\/strong><\/em><\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

      According to Eurostat estimates, approximately 132 kg of food is wasted per person per year in the EU, which represents more than 59 million tonnes of waste per year. Of this, more than half (54 million tonnes) is generated by households (\u224872 kg\/person\/year); the rest is<\/p>","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[6,1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-36130","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uhlikova-stopa","category-znizovanie_co2_cdr_ccs_ccu_dac"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.co2news.sk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/36130","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.co2news.sk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.co2news.sk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.co2news.sk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/7"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.co2news.sk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=36130"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.co2news.sk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/36130\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.co2news.sk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=36130"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.co2news.sk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=36130"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.co2news.sk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=36130"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}