Food Waste Decreased by 17% Since 2015

Minister Wiersma: “Throwing away food is a waste. I think there is too little awareness about the fact that so much food is still wasted every year. We expect farmers to use nutrients efficiently while at home and in places like the hospitality industry, sustainably produced food is massively thrown in the trash. This must and can really be different. Food waste must be further reduced, and everyone needs to be aware of that. Together with those involved, I am happy to continue to work on this.”

Still, one-fifth of all food in the Netherlands is never eaten. This not only results in valuable food products being lost, but also the hard work, energy, and resources needed to produce the food. The Netherlands aims to halve food waste by 2030 compared to 2015. 

Since then, many steps have been taken with visible results. The foundation Together Against Food Waste (STV), supported by the Ministry of LVVN, works together with retailers on awareness and behavioral change. Through a network approach, STV facilitates supply chain parties to jointly develop a concrete approach to reduce waste within the chain, and self-monitoring tools have been implemented in more than 130 companies.

The Food Center supports this with campaigns and tools such as the Storage Guide, which provides tips on how to best store food. This year, there is also a Waste-Free Week (September 8 to 14) to raise awareness of the impact of food waste and encourage people to throw away less food.

The latest Food Waste Monitor shows that in 2023 a total of 2,271 kilotons or 2,271 million kilograms of food were wasted (including businesses, restaurants, and households). This is a 17% decrease compared to 2015. That is enough for over 4.5 billion meals, about 86 million meals per week. Over the past ten years, efforts have been made to raise awareness, educate, and stimulate supermarkets and consumers. This shows that the approach of the Ministry of LVVN, STV, and the Food Center is working. However, there is still work to be done to achieve the goal in 2030.

In the coming years, there will be a greater focus on increasing knowledge and improving collaboration throughout the entire chain. In particular, the processing and manufacturing links are responsible for about one-third of total food waste in the Netherlands. It is therefore important that more effort and transparency are achieved at this level. The minister encourages companies in this sector to join the Together Against Food Waste foundation and start self-monitoring.

Additionally, the focus is on better utilizing by-products for animal feed, for example. Wageningen University and Research (WUR) is also researching tools that can be used to prevent losses during or after harvest.

Uncertainty about expiration dates is a major cause of food waste. Each year, about 60 million kilograms of good food is wasted by throwing away products after the expiration date. For example, a can of diced tomatoes has a “Best Before” (THT) date. After this date, the quality, such as taste, smell, or color of the product, may slowly deteriorate. However, if the can is still intact, you can eat it safely years after the THT date. This is in contrast to products with the Use By (TGT) date, which cannot be eaten anymore due to food safety concerns, such as raw fish.

To better inform people about expiration, the Expiration Coalition has been established, a collaboration of supermarkets and the food industry. The work of this coalition is already visible on over 3,500 products through the ‘look-smell-taste’ icon and a hand on packaging. The number of products continues to grow, with producers and retailers also taking responsibility to waste less.

Many people in the Netherlands depend on food aid. The government is committed to ensuring food security for these aid points and links this to reducing food waste. The Ministry of LVVN therefore grants a project subsidy to STV. With this subsidy, the foundation can initiate a chain collaboration, allowing unexpectedly rejected products to still reach consumers. This prevents waste and strengthens food security for the aid points.