Get involved – International Day of Awareness of Food Loss and Waste

The United Nations General Assembly designated 29 September as the annual International Day of Awareness of Food Loss and Waste. The day is co-convened by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) and the United Nations Environmental Programme (UNEP). It will be observed for the fifth time in 2024 on 27 September.

The day is to help raise awareness to the importance of food waste action, and to promote the global efforts and collective action towards meeting the Sustainable Development Goal Target 12.3 – halving food waste by 2030.

End Food Waste Australia encourages everyone to get involved and help spread the food waste action message this #FLWDay. Learn more about food waste below and see how you can get involved.

How to get involved:

  • Help spread the message on your social media channels

We have developed a supporting toolkit and downloadable social media assets, which you can access here.

See what’s on:

EFWA is hosting a webinar  “TBC”

Global virtual event: the International Day of Awareness of Food Loss and Waste 2024

A virtual event will be convened by FAO and UNEP on 27 September at 13:30 hrs CEST to mark the IDAFLW 2024 fifth observance. Find out more here.

Learn more about food waste action in Australia and start reducing food waste today

Did you know?

The environmental impacts of food waste:
  • Wasting food wastes all the resources, energy, water, land and fuel used to produce and distribute it.
  • In Australia, food waste generates 17.5 million tonnes of CO2 – 3 % of Australia’s total greenhouse gas emissions.
  • Australia uses around 2600 gigalitres of water to grow food that is waste – the same volume of water that could fill five Sydney Harbours.
The scale of the food waste problem:
  • 1/3 of all food is wasted. At the same time, 2 million households in Australia (21%) have gone hungry in the last year (Foodbank Hunger Report 2022).
  • Australia wastes 7.6 million tonnes of food a year. The equivalent of every Australian throwing away 24 burgers A WEEK.
  • Food waste happens at every stage of the food supply chain.
  • Food waste costs Australian households up to $2500 a year.
Why fight food waste?
  • Ending food waste is good for people, the planet and industry profitability.
  • Ending food waste will take everyone getting involved. Some of Australia’s biggest food businesses have committed to fighting food waste by joining the Australian Food Pact. The Pact is Australia’s biggest collaborative efforts of food businesses committed to fighting food waste in their operations, supply chain and by supporting consumers.
  • You can start fighting food waste today, if you’re a food business, the Australian Food Pact is the country’s biggest collaborative efforts of food businesses committed to fighting food waste in their operations, supply chain and by supporting consumers.
  • At home, you can take start taking small actions that can have big impact to reduce food waste – try leaving a night a week (or two) to eat or repurpose leftovers, storing food correctly, and get creative to use food you already have.

Thanks for getting involved!

Find out more about this day from the Food and Agriculture Organisation of the United Nations here.