Waste in France & in the World: It's time to act!

Food Waste
in figures

Food waste refers to “any food intended for human consumption which, at any point in the food chain, is lost, discarded or degraded, and constitutes food waste”.

A third of all food produced is wasted worldwide
In France, food waste weighs in at 8.8 billion tonnes

Foodwaste:
From Farm to Fork

Food waste is a problem that affects every link in the food chain, and the causes are manifold: from producer to distributor to consumer. Individuals, producers, canteens, restaurants, supermarkets… We’re all concerned!

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The main Causes
of Food Waste

There are many causes of food waste:

Use-by dates/short delivery dates
Storage
Transport
Minor defects and aesthetic criteria
Losses linked to preparation
Forgotten in the fridge
Contingencies, poor anticipation and ordering errors

How much does food waste cost?

This waste has economic, environmental and social costs. The FAO has estimated this economic consequence: the direct cost of lost or wasted products amounts to 900 billion euros per year. If we add the environmental and social cost, we’re talking about 2,340 billion euros.

Harmful impacts on the planet:
Act!

350 km3

of water wasted

1.3 billion

tons of food
thrown away

1.4 million

million hectares of
wasted earth

3.3 billion

tons of CO2
emissions
each year

Waste of new non-food products:
some figures

4 billion euros: the market value of new non-food unsold goods (cosmetics, textiles, games, cultural products, household appliances) in France.
This represents an average of 3% of company sales
Only two-thirds of these products are (re)used (resold, donated or repaired with a view to restoring them to working order).
One third of these unsold products end up destroyed (potentially dismantled for recycling, incinerated, landfilled).

An Unrecognizable Caucasian Woman Buying Some Cosmetic Products

Waste of Non-food items
by industry

Waste of new non-food products affects all sectors. Here is the average share of waste in company sales, sector by sector:

Cultural products: 8.9% of sales
Childcare: 4.1% of sales
Games and toys: 2.9% of sales
School and office supplies: 2.8% of sales
Household linen: 2.7% of sales
Furnishings: 2.3% of sales
Sports equipment: 2.2% of sales
Household equipment: 1.6% of sales
Clothing, footwear: 1.5% of sales
Household appliances: 1.3% of sales
Personal care: 1.2% of sales
Cleaning products: 1% of sales

The main causes
of non-food waste

There are many causes of non-food waste:

Range changes
Obsolescence linked to seasonal products
Difficulties in anticipating demand
Products that are difficult to repair, and the lack of channels for repairing them
Commercial practices such as “money back” or online sales with free returns

Recent studies

More information:

Eurostat article presenting the results reported by member states
The ADEME file : “Food loss and waste: the state of food waste and its management by stages of the food chain“ (2016)
The FAO report
The Garot report: “The fight against food waste: proposals for public policy” (2015)
The Phenix e-book: “Invendus alimentaires: comment arbitrer entre les différentes voies de valorisation?“ (in French only).

How Much Do We Waste? The Waste Statistics

Food Waste in figures

Foodwaste: From Farm to Fork

The main Causes of Food Waste

How much does food waste cost?

Harmful impacts on the planet: Act!

Waste of new non-food products: some figures

Waste of Non-food items by industry

The main causes of non-food waste