Food Waste Intelligence

Canadians represent about 0.5% of the world’s population, produce about 1.5% of the food in the world, and purchase about 0.6% of the total food produced throughout the world. Unfortunately, they also wasted over 6 million tonnes* of food in 2009, equating to roughly 183kg per person, according to Human Activity and the Environment: Annual Statistics 2009.

* This post is part of an ongoing series, "Food Waste Around the Globe." To see all related posts, click here.

Multiple actors within Australia are trying to reduce the nation’s annual food waste. According to the Food Waste Avoidance Benchmark Study 2009 conducted by the NSW Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), each household spends approximately $1,036 on wasted food, which amounts to $2.5 billion dollars within the NSW and $5 billion across Australia. This estimate means that the citizens of Australia end up throwing out more than 3 million tonnes of food each year! OzHarvest, a food charity headquartered in Sydney, measured that 3.28 million tonnes of food goes into Australian landfills each year and makes up 10% of the country’s greenhouse gas emissions. (When organic matter in a landfill starts to decompose, it releases methane gas, which is up to 25 times more potent than carbon dioxide in terms of greenhouse gas emissions.)

* This post is part of an ongoing series, "Food Waste Around the Globe." To see all related posts, click here.

On June 14th, 2013, the Minister of Agriculture, Guillaume Garot, signed a National Pact to eliminate half of France’s food waste by 2025. The National Pact outlines 11 steps the country plans to take in order to meet this aspiring goal. Here are a few unique ideas and initiatives demonstrated in the Pact that encourage French citizens to become more aware about their own consumption and how they can reduce food waste.