In Austria, too much food ends up in the bin every day – this damages the environment and is expensive for everyone. Households are also the biggest culprits in Upper Austria. A campaign against waste is now intended to create awareness.
Especially in times of climate change and rising prices, the subject of food waste is more explosive than ever. Agriculture Minister Michaela Langer-Weninger (ÖVP) wants to bring this awareness to the attention of the population on Thursday around the International Day of Zero Waste – with the campaign “Stop food waste. Start recycling now”, which she and the association “Land creates life ” initiated.
Food waste would feed Linz, Pasching and Leonding
Almost a million tons of food is thrown away in Austria every year. This corresponds to a column of 750 kilometers of 50,000 fully loaded trucks from Vienna to Zurich (see graph). Broken down by Upper Austria, there is still 151,500 tonnes of food waste per year. With this amount, almost 240,000 people can be fed for a year, for example the city of Linz and the surrounding municipalities of Leonding and Pasching.
Households throw away the most food
The campaign, which has been running since the beginning of Lent, should mainly appeal to private households – as they are responsible for 58 percent of food waste. Every year, 800 euros per household ends up in the garbage in the form of food.
“Each of us throws away an average of 60 kilos of food in a year. This has a lot to do with a lack of awareness, but also with a lack of knowledge: food is often stored incorrectly or thrown away when it could have been eaten,” says Langer-Weninger.
bread, fruits and vegetables
Bread and pastries (28 percent), fruit and vegetables (27 percent) and animal products such as milk, eggs or meat (23 percent) top the list of discarded foods. “Each individual can also do something to prevent food waste,” says Hannes Royer of “Land creates life”.
Source: Krone
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