'23 million 40-tonne trucks': UN study uncovers extent of world's food waste crisis

clock • 5 min read

The findings suggest an urgent need to ramp up efforts to meet UN Sustainable Development Goal 12.3, which aims to halve global food waste by 2030

A gigantic 931 million tonnes of food were binned in 2019 by households, retailers, restaurants, and other food services, according to new UN research designed to evaluate the sluggish progress towards...

To continue reading this article...

Join BusinessGreen

In just a few clicks you can start your free BusinessGreen Lite membership for 12 months, providing you access to:

  • Three complimentary articles per month covering the latest real-time news, analysis, and opinion from Europe’s leading source of information on the Green economy and business
  • Receive important and breaking news stories via our daily news alert
  • Our weekly newsletter with the best of the week’s green business news and analysis

Join now

 

Already a BusinessGreen member?

Login

More on Waste

UK sports federations team up to tackle clothing waste

UK sports federations team up to tackle clothing waste

Sustainable Sports Apparel Charter aims to combat 'structural overproduction, underuse, and disposal' of sports clothing in the UK

BusinessGreen staff
clock 30 March 2026 • 2 min read
Government hands Environment Agency 'police-like powers' to tackle waste crime

Government hands Environment Agency 'police-like powers' to tackle waste crime

Defra moves to establish zero-tolerance policy on illegal waste, as government threatens to confiscate fly tippers' driving licenses

Stuart Stone
clock 16 March 2026 • 4 min read
WRAP: Food waste has already cost the average UK family almost £200 this year

WRAP: Food waste has already cost the average UK family almost £200 this year

New survey reveals majority of UK public believe food waste is inevitable and there is little they can do about it, despite rising costs

Michael Holder
clock 09 March 2026 • 3 min read