Belgium second largest food waster in Europe

The Monitor Food Loss 2020 shows that Belgium, particularly Flanders, has wasted nearly 900,000 tons of edible food in 2020. This puts Belgium at the bottom of the European ladder, with only Cyprus doing worse. Bond Beter Leefmilieu and FoodWIN urge the Flemish government to take urgent preventive measures.

According to the organizations, the Flemish policy does not recognize the seriousness of the problem. Although on paper the goal is to reduce food loss by 30% between 2015 and 2025, the decrease between 2015 and 2020 is only 2%. The policy mainly focuses on valorization, using food waste for animal feed, energy generation or composting.

The food industry wastes 161 kg of food per capita per year in Belgium, compared with only 59 kg in the Netherlands, 29 kg in France and 19 kg in Germany. The Flemish agricultural sector also performs poorly, with half a million tons of residual streams, 73% of which are edible.

Food losses account for 8% of greenhouse gas emissions in Belgium. FoodWIN and Bond Beter Leefmilieu call for mandatory food loss plans, detailed measurements per sector and concrete reduction targets. They call for a fundamental reform of the food system to address food loss.

View the Food Loss Monitor 2020

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