1/3 of Poles admit throwing away food, mostly because of missing the best-before date or buying too much food at once – states the newest report of the Polish Food Bank Association. At the same time Poland was funded with 92,600 tonne food aid package by the European Union. See our article about it.

A lot of money ends up in trash because of food waste

A lot of money ends up in trash because of food waste

Sliced meat, bread and vegetables are the most common products that end up in the trash. According to the report, Poles are not doing it on purpose – they are unaware how not to waste food.

Throwing away food is a serious problem appearing every day in many Polish homes. We want to create awareness and educate Poles how they can minimise wasting sliced meat, bread, vegetables, fruit or dinner leftovers, says Marek Borowski, the Managing Director ofthe Polish Food Bank Association.

    The most common products that Poles throw away:

  • sliced meat – 43%
  • bread – 36 %
  • vegetables – 32%
  • fruit – 27%
  • yoghurts – 23%
  • potatoes – 20%
  • meat – 17%
  • milk – 17%
  • cheese – 12%
  • fish – 8%
  • convenience food – 8%
  • eggs – 4%
    The reasons why Poles throw food away:

  • missing the best-before date – 38%
  • buying too much food at once – 15%
  • preparing too big portions of food – 13%
  • storing the food inappropriately – 11%
  • buying bad quality food – 9%
  • the product or dish turns out to be distasteful – 6%
  • lack of ideas how to use the lefovers – 3%
  • buying without a shopping list – 2%

This year’s survey of the Centre for Public Opinion Research shows that people who are wealthier and occupy higher work positions waste much more food than people who are older or earn much less. However, Poles claim that they throw away much less food than in 2005. Authors of the report believe that it might be the result of successful public service announcements.

16th of October is National Food Day, so it is a perfect moment to realise how much food we waste and think what we can do to minimise it. Taking this opportunity, the Polish Food Bank Association organises a series of events and cooking workshops in order to encourage children and teenagers to eat healthy and limit food waste.

 

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