From farmgate to plate, Food waste affects everyone.

Food waste facts
  • Every year in Australia, 7.6 million tonnes of food is wasted, enough to fill the Melbourne Cricket Ground ten times over, 70% of which is edible.
  • Food waste costs the Australian economy $36.6 billion a year.
  • Food wasted at home costs households up to $2,500 a year, or $50 a week.
  • 2 million households (21%) in Australia have experienced severe food insecurity in the past 12 months.
  • 2,600 gigalitres of water is used to grow food that is then wasted. That’s 5x the volume of water in the Sydney Harbour.
  • A landmass bigger than the state of Victoria, 25.73 million hectares, is used to grow food that is then wasted.
  • Food waste generated 17.5 million tonnes of CO2-e every year. That’s 3% of Australia’s national GHG emissions.
  • Globally, food waste generates up to 10% of all GHG emissions. If food waste were a country, it would be the third largest GHG emitter after the US and China.

Sources:

Where does food waste occur?

Food waste happens at every stage of the food value chain.

Sector-based breakdown of food waste in Australia:

Is halving food waste by 2030 possible?

We can reduce Australia’s food waste by 52% by 2030. But it will take unprecedented action by governments, industry, investors and the community to achieve this goal.

Achieving Australia’s target to halve food waste by 2030 will take 23 high impact interventions to be fully implemented and an investment of $2 billion of new money to:

  • Reduce food waste by 22.5 million tonnes
  • Deliver a net benefit back to society of $58 billion
  • Reduce GHG emissions by 50.5Mt of CO2-e, the equivalent of taking half of Australia’s vehicles off the road for a year.

Source: FIAL (2021) National Food Waste Strategy Feasibility Study

the world is taking action

Australia has a stated goal of halving food waste by 2030, in line with United Nations Sustainable Development Goal 12.3.

Around the globe governments, businesses and people and joining the fight against food waste. Food waste reduction programs include voluntary agreements like the Australian Food Pact, consumer behaviour change campaigns, policy reform, and innovation and R&D like the Cooperative Research Centre.

End Food Waste Australia key programs include the:

If you grow, make, move, sell or buy food you are an important part of ending food waste.

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Why end food waste?

Food waste adversely affects industry profitability, people, and our planet. Learn about the substantial benefits of ending food waste.

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Our
Impact.

We have already made significant progress toward reducing food waste. Take a look at the ways we are shaping the future for the better.

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Discover the Australian Food Pact and how you can become part of the plan to end food waste and create a more sustainable future.

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