Food Waste Facts

OzHarvest is passionate about minimising food waste and protecting our environment for future generations. Here’s why…

The World:

There is enough food produced in the world to feed everyone. ^{^[1]}
One third of all food produced is lost or wasted –around 1.3 billion tonnes of food –costing the global economy close to $940 billion each year.^{^[2]}
One in nine people do not have enough food to eat, that’s 793 million people who are undernourished.^{^[3]}
If one quarter of the food currently lost or wasted could be saved, it would be enough to feed 870 million hungry people.^{^[4]}
Almost half of all fruit and vegetables produced are wasted (that’s 3.7 trillion apples). ^{^[5]}
8% of greenhouse gases heating the planet are caused by food waste.^{^[6]}
If food waste was a country, it would be the third biggest emitter of greenhouse gases after USA and China.^{^[7]}
Eliminating global food waste would save 4.4 million tonnes of C0² a year, the equivalent of taking one in four cars off the road. ^{^[8]}
Throwing away one burger wastes the same amount of water as a 90-minute shower.

In Australia:

The Government estimates food waste costs the Australian economy $20 billion each year. ^{^[9]}
Over 5 million tonnes of food ends up as landfill, enough to fill 9,000 Olympic sized swimming pools.^{^[10]}
One in five shopping bags end up in the bin = $3,800 worth of groceries per household each year.^{^[11]}
35% of the average household bin is food waste. ^{^[12]}
Nearly four million people experience food insecurity each year, one quarter are children.^{^[14]}
Over 710,000 people rely on food relief each month, one quarter are children.^{^[14]}
Regional and remote communities are being hit the hardest and are a third more likely to experience food insecurity than those living in capital cities.^{^[14]}