Updated on 28 September 2025
The latest UNEP Food Waste Index 2024 reports (for the most recent year available, 2022) 1.05 billion tonnes of food wasted worldwide. 60% of waste occurs in households, 28% in food service, and 12% in retail.
In Europe, Eurostat estimates 59.2 million tonnes in 2022, with households responsible for 54%. In 2025, the EU reached a political agreement on binding 2030 targets: –10% in processing/manufacturing and –30% per capita jointly across retail, restaurants, food service and households. These are the first measurable European targets on the issue.
Food waste: Italy above the European average
In Italy, according to the international Waste Watcher Observatory, average food waste per citizen stands at 555.8 grams per week, i.e. more than 28.9 kg per year. This represents an 18.7% decrease compared to 2024, but it still exceeds the European average and remains far from the 369.7 grams per week target set for 2030.
The most wasted foods are fresh fruit, bread, vegetables and salad. The cost along the supply chain is estimated at around €14 billion per year.
Throwing away food means throwing away water, land, energy and money
Beyond the social impact, there is a climate one: when it ends up in landfills, food generates methane. The EPA estimates that in the United States 58% of “fugitive” methane from municipal waste comes from food waste (about 55 million tonnes of CO₂e per year, 2020 data). The order of magnitude helps explain why reducing waste is a climate lever that should not be underestimated.
Water. Food produced but not consumed “embeds” about 250 km³ of blue water (surface and groundwater) each year: the equivalent of three times the volume of Lake Geneva. Source: FAO
Land and biodiversity. Nearly 1.4 billion hectares of land are used to produce food that is ultimately wasted—almost a third of the world’s agricultural land—creating avoidable pressure on ecosystems, deforestation and species loss. Source: Waste Watcher
Nature and pollution (EU/UN perspective). Beyond climate impacts, food waste drives nature loss and pollution along the supply chain (agricultural inputs, energy, transport), with a global economic cost estimated at around $1 trillion per year. Source: UNEP – UN Environment Programme
Reducing waste, therefore, is not only an ethical gesture: it is one of the most concrete actions we can take to protect the environment, resources and our future.
