Food waste is estimated to cost the average household €700 a year or €60 per month, Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine, Charlie McConalogue has said.
The minister’s comments come as today (Friday, March 1) marks National Stop Food Waste Day.
The focus of this year’s event is to encourage people to “know their food waste” by taking the Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA’s) ‘Stop Food Waste Challenge’.
The challenge invites people to record and track their waste over a week to see where they can make savings on their food bills and to take simple actions to reduce the food they waste the most.
Food waste
The EPA estimates that Ireland generated 753,000 tonnes of food waste in 2021.
29% of the total comes from households, the same amount comes from the processing and manufacturing sector, 25% comes from restaurants and food service, with the remainder coming from retail and distribution (10%) and primary production (7%).
Minister McConalogue said that cutting down on such waste shows recognition and respect for primary producers, processors and those who work to provide us with food.
“Reducing our food waste at home makes financial sense as well as being a climate action we can take every day. We all lead busy lives.
“Research conducted in Ireland shows that leftovers, bread, fruit, and vegetables are the foods most likely to go to waste.
“Taking the EPA’s “Stop Food Waste Challenge” this coming week will help each household identify what food they waste most and take action to reduce it,” he said.
The EPA offered households the following ideas to help cut down on wastage: Buy less; store better; eat it; or freeze it.
As part of Food Vision 2030 stakeholders developed a National Food Waste Prevention Roadmap which was published in November 2022.
The Food Waste Charter was relaunched last year to promote a collective industry commitment to measure, reduce and report waste along the supply chain.
Minister of State with responsibility for Public Procurement, eGovernment and Circular Economy, Ossian Smyth added:
“Substantial resources are needed for the growing, processing, transportation and storage of food.
“Tackling food waste is one of the key steps we can all take to help combat climate change and support Ireland’s transition to a circular economy.
“We need to adopt good food management behaviours so we can all play a key role in preventing food waste.”