Food waste in Italy: the 2026 supply chain costs over 13 billion

The 2026 food chain wasted in Italy will cost over 13 and a half billion, 7.3 billion in homes alone, for a total amount of food that ends up in the bin amounting to over 5 million tons, for a waste per capita, according to the latest survey from last February, of 554 grams of food every week, 'only' 79.14 grams every day. Figures still far from the UN target of 369.7 grams of food per capita per week by 2030.

These are some data released in view of the 7th international day of awareness on food loss and waste, established by the UN, scheduled for 29 September.

In Italy the event will be held in Rome promoted by the Zero Waste public awareness campaign with the presentation of the new report from the Waste Watcher International observatory at its centre.

In particular, global data records, from the fields to the movement of food, the waste of approximately 13.2% of the food produced, lost before even reaching the shop counters, due to logistical problems or inadequate conservation technologies. While a large percentage of the food supply chain is wasted directly by consumers, restaurants and large-scale retail trade. Together, food losses and waste generate 8 to 10 percent of global greenhouse gas emissions. “If food waste were a nation, it would be the third largest emitter in the world,” the experts point out.

And for the first time in this edition of the World Day, the theme, explains the scientific director of the Zero Waste Campaign and the Waste Watcher International Observatory, Andrea Segrè, "is no longer presented only as a moral duty, but as a real lever for social transformation". The event on September 29th, in Rome, from 10am in the Sala Igea of ​​the Treccani Italian Encyclopedia Institute will focus on this, on the tenth anniversary of the approval of the Gadda Law in 2016. Expected among others are the Deputy Director General of FAO Maurizio Martina, Maximo Torero Chief Economist of FAO.

Furthermore, on 8 October the Zero Waste campaign will be in New York, at the United Nations with its founder Segrè and with Matteo Vittuari, Distal University of Bologna.