UN report finds Greeks are Europe’s worst food wasters
The amount of food wasted by Greeks comes to more than twice the global average and more than any other country in Europe, the United Nations Environment Program said in its first-ever Food Waste Index Report.
According to the report, Greeks throw out 174 kilograms of food per capita per year, against a global average of 74 kilos. In Europe, they come first, followed by the Maltese with 129 kg and the Hungarians with 94 kg. Overall, 1.48 million tons of food ends up on the trash heap in Greece every year, almost as much as in Romania, which has twice the population. Portugal, which has a similar population to Greece, throws out 860,000 tons of a food a year.
In the report’s introductory note, UNEP Executive Director Inger Andersen urges more to be done at the state but also at the consumer level, encouraging households to “shop carefully, cook creatively and make wasting food anywhere socially unacceptable.”
