Food waste is an extremely prevalent problem across the world, and with this in mind, the team at Utility Bidder have used data from the Food Waste Index Report 2024 to study the countries with the highest (& lowest) food waste ratings in the world.
You can view the full research here: https://www.utilitybidder.co.uk/blog/carbon-food-print/
Top 10 countries with the largest amount of food waste in the world
|
Rank  |
Country |
Estimated Household Food waste (average kg per capita) |
Total Household Waste (kg) |
|
1 |
Bulgaria |
26 |
176,280,000 |
|
2 |
Russia |
33 |
4,829,772,000 |
|
3 |
Slovenia |
36 |
76,320,000 |
|
4 |
Ireland |
48 |
240,960,000 |
|
5 |
Croatia |
53 |
213,590,000 |
|
5 |
Finland |
53 |
293,620,000 |
|
7 |
Netherlands |
59 |
1,036,040,000 |
|
8 |
Japan |
60 |
7,398,006,000 |
|
8 |
Poland |
60 |
2,391,600,000 |
|
10 |
Estonia |
61 |
81,130,000 |
|
10 |
France |
61 |
3,942,430,000 |
|
10 |
New Zealand |
61 |
316,590,000 |
|
10 |
Spain |
61 |
2,895,272,000 |
Bulgaria produces the least food waste per capita at just 26kg of food waste per capita. When you compare this to the population of 4.7 million, Bulgarians produce 176.28 million kg of food waste.
Meanwhile, at the other end of the spectrum, Portugal produces the most food waste per capita, with 124kg wasted per person. With a population of 10.41 million, Portugal is estimated to produce roughly 1.27 billion kg of food waste annually.
Further findings from the study:
Beef production has the most significant impact on the environment of any food type, as almost 100kg of CO2eq is produced for every kg of beef produced. The average cow has around 250kg of beef, and as a result, each beef cow produces almost 25,000kg of CO2eq.
Given that six of the top ten food products with the most significant emissions fit into this category, it is unsurprising that meat and fish as a food group produces the most average emissions. On average, products in this category produce 22.64kg of CO2eq, over 20kg more than any other food type.
Farming is the stage of production that causes the most emissions. Across all the food types, 172.59 kg of CO2eq per kg is produced from this production stage. Meanwhile, just 4.00 kg of CO2eq is produced at the retail stage.
James Longley, Managing Director at Utility Bidder has provided the following comment:
“From production to the plate, getting food to the table is by no means an easy feat, especially when it comes to accommodating climate-conscious objectives. There are several hidden environmental costs of food processes, and some are seemingly more detrimental than others.
“At Utility Bidder, we compare business gas prices, along with energy and electricity, and whilst we want our customers to get the best deals, we also want to champion environmental practices for businesses to save on emissions – so how much do you consider the impact of the carbon ‘food’ print?
“The journey of food from production to the plate is a long one; even before food produce leaves the farm, emissions from the farm, land use, and animal feed account for 269.17kg of CO2eq per kg produced. These three aforementioned practices make up three of the top four most costly production processes for emissions; wedged in between is the emissions from last produce which further proves that there are environmental repercussions before and after production.
“We’ve also split our research down further to profile the food types and groups you all know and that some of you will love. Beef ranks number one as the top food type producing the most emissions. The average cow has around 250kg of beef, and as a result, each beef cow produces almost 25,000kg of CO2eq.
“Perhaps unsurprisingly given this statistic, meat and fish ranks as the overall food group producing the most average emissions. Beef and Lamb are the most significant contributors, but shrimp, fish, pork meat and poultry all produce a considerably large amount of carbon emissions.”
You can review the research here
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