The fight against food waste continues

The highlight of the European Week for Waste Reduction, held between 16 and 24 November last year, was the prevention of food waste.

At the event, the State Secretary mentioned that among the government measures taken to reduce food waste, the separate collection of biodegradable kitchen and canteen waste began in 2024, which creates the opportunity for their utilization in composting plants and biogas plants. The operation of food banks is particularly supported, which delivers still edible food to those in need, said Anikó Raisz.

The Secretary of State assessed that, similarly to previous years, the European Week for Waste Reduction campaign was very popular in Hungary in 2024, for which more than 300 organizations registered across the country with nearly 500 actions. Among them, many innovative initiatives were implemented to reduce food waste. With this performance, Hungary occupies a prominent place in the European comparison, ahead of, for example, Germany, Belgium, and the Netherlands.

In her speech, Anikó Raisz emphasized that food waste is a global and increasingly urgent problem not only in Europe, but also worldwide. The world’s population exceeds 8.2 billion people, and while one in eleven people, approximately 730 million people, goes hungry every day, approximately 1 billion tons of food waste is generated worldwide annually.