Understanding Food Waste Across Europe: Evidence to Inform Circular Action

As part of the Waste2Worth project, a desk-based research activity was undertaken to examine the scale and characteristics of food waste across the partner countries; Ireland, Spain, Italy, and Finland, within the wider EU context. Understanding the magnitude of food waste at European and national level is essential for grounding circular economy initiatives in evidence and ensuring that project actions respond to real, measurable challenges. The findings presented below draw on the latest available official data (primarily 2023) from EU and national sources, acknowledging that reporting for 2024–2025 is still ongoing. This overview provides a shared baseline from which Waste2Worth’s educational tools, Design Thinking activities, and regional workshops were developed.

Here are the latest available food waste statistics (end of 2025/2023 reference data) for the EU and the specific countries: Spain, Ireland, Italy, Finland. Note that national breakdowns from official EU sources are updated most recently for 2023, and reporting for 2024–2025 is still in progress:

EU-Wide Context (2023 data)

  • Across the European Union, around 130 kg of food waste per person was generated in 2023, with total food waste exceeding 58 million tonnes. Households were responsible for over half of this total. European Commission

Country-Specific Estimates

Spain

  • National food waste data are collected and reported via the Spanish Ministry of Agriculture (MAPA), which provides detailed breakdowns by household and non-household sectors (2024 report available). However, official quantified figures for 2023–2025 per capita or total tonnes are not published in the easily accessible Eurostat summary yet. Mapa del Ministerio
  • Recent national policy indicates strong political commitment to reduce food waste, reflected in new legislation and prevention plans. FoodTimes

 Ireland

  • Ireland generated an estimated 835,000 tonnes of food waste in 2023, equivalent to about 162 kg per person, which is higher than the EU average. EPA
  • The largest share came from manufacturing/processing and households. EPA

Italy

  • Specific per-capita food waste figures for Italy from the most recent Eurostat dataset aren’t individually published in the main summary, but Italy is consistently among the larger national contributors to EU food waste due to its population size and supply chain. EU data overall indicate major contributions from countries like Germany, France, and Italy. ROSETTA

Finland

  • National breakdown in the Eurostat reporting for Finland specifically isn’t separately listed in the main summary tables. However, Finland generally follows the EU average trend of around 130 kg per person per year unless country-specific studies indicate lower figures (typical for Nordic countries with strong waste prevention policies though exact official figures aren’t in the 2023 summary). European Commission

Key Notes

  • Households tend to generate the largest share of food waste across EU countries (around 50-55 %). European Commission
  • The EU has introduced binding targets to reduce food waste—aiming to cut per-capita waste in retail and consumer sectors by 30 % by 2030 and processing losses by 10 %, relative to 2021-2023 levels. consilium.europa.eu

The findings confirm that food waste remains a significant and persistent challenge across Europe, with households and food-related activities continuing to account for the largest share. While national data availability and reporting practices vary, the overall trend is clear: food waste represents both an environmental burden and a missed economic opportunity. The statistics reinforce the urgency of initiatives such as Waste2Worth, which aim to translate high-level policy ambitions into practical, local action through education, collaboration, and innovation.

By situating Waste2Worth activities within this broader European evidence base, the project contributes directly to the EU’s food waste reduction targets for 2030 and supports communities, educators, and SMEs in becoming active agents of change. The challenge now lies in continuing to use data, local knowledge, and collaborative tools to turn awareness into action and waste into worth.

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Fondazione Luigi Clerici (FLC)

FLC

Fondazione Luigi Clerici (FLC) (Italy) is a private non-profit VET organization, established in 1972 which operates in Italy with its 30 branches by providing training services for people, companies and social organisations. Its aims are:  contributing to social and professional inclusion in the labour market and promoting training courses according to the current needs of the labour market. FLC has 7 VET centres in which it offers training courses for the catering sector and 2 VET centres in which it offers training courses for the Pastry and Bakery Sector.  Being aware of the huge amounts of food waste, which is being created in Italy and Europe, FLC aims at introducing knowledge and competences about food waste management within its training course. Therefore, W2W is of specific interest.
Sara Radaelli

Sara Radaelli

Key skills: She has experience in the management of European project and has knowledge with regards to the EU environment and its partner organizations. Furthermore, she is responsible for the Erasmus + Mobility Projects.

Nadia Glaeserer - European Project Manager

Key skills: She has experience in the management and implementation of national, international and European projects regarding education, lifelong learning and research. Furthermore, she has experience in designing, organizing and coordinating of training courses and in developing e-learning material for adult learners.

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CDEA

CDEA has led the way in vocational training in Gipuzkoa, Basque Country, since 1978 and delivers HOSPITALITY, TOURISM & HEALTH courses in three areas: in-service, initial and adult vocational training. Our broad range of courses brings them into daily contact with the business community which enables them to adapt to the ever-changing skill needs. CDEA aims to contribute to the continuous improvement and development of tourism and hospitality sectors by preparing and training the professionals of the future. 

As a VET provider CDEA recognizes the value of training future leaders in the food sector in their role as changemakers and we strongly encourage innovative thinking. Through the accomplishment of this project we will provide tailored support for four SMEs  partners, stakeholders & regional/agricultural agencies to increase awareness of the impact of the food waste on the environment and economy and on how we can better use food waste to create worth and economic gain.
Irida Tase

Irida Tase

Key skills:  Irida brings to W2W extensive experience in project management and coordination and strong collaboration with Basque food SMEs.

Leire Urkola

Leire Urkola

Key skills:  Teacher of dietetics and kitchen management in CDEA, Leire is an expert in Human nutrition and dietetics, Food science and technology, and has various specialisations in hotel catering, meat and fish industries, food quality and safety.

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Savonia University of Applied Sciences

Savonia Logo

Savonia research and development activities follow the principles of sustainable growth. Savonia has five selected focus areas. These focus areas develop solutions and competitiveness of local businesses. We aim at renewing the local economic structure and thus enabling new success stories to be born. Food Industries and Bio & Circular economy are 2 of these areas of focus. They strive to strengthen the vitality of the region and the well-being of food business development via food chain business skills and competences as well as business development and fostering innovation. They support business and society sustainable development by at the heart are bio-based products and material recycling. We help companies to move away from the fossil economy towards the bio economy and low carbon society. Waste 2 Worth is a perfect project to build on this initiative.

Anna-Maria Saarela

Key skills Anna-Maria brings to W2W include extensive experience in project management and coordination and expertise in specialty food retail management for SMEs in Finnish Food Industry

Solja Ryhänen

Solja Ryhänen

Solja brings 20+ years of experience in mobility and international project coordination.

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momentum educate + innovate

Momentum is an award-winning Irish educator focused on developing progressive learning programmes (course curriculum and content development) and platforms for education, with a special focus on adult – further education in sustainability & digital skills. Our experienced team helps educators and SMEs respond to the dynamic and changing needs they experience and thus we aim to provide more sustainable employment and futures to adult learners. We train and mentor hundreds per annum and we advise networks and policymakers.

Momentum also has a strong marketing and dissemination division specialising in brand development, content generation, communication strategies, digital media and social media attracting high-profile attention to our programmes. We are very proud of our role in developing the Waste 2 Worth brand that is carried through the project.
Orla Casey

Orla Casey - Managing Director of Momentum

Over the last 20 years, Orla Casey has built up a solid reputation for economic development vision and action, innovative problem solving, transfer of innovation and delivery of game changing projects.

Paula Whyte

Paula Whyte - Project Co-ordinator

Key skills: Paula has over 18 years’ experience in the food sector. Of relevance to this project. Her career has been focused on the agri-food sector and waste reduction. She heads up Momentum’s food team and is motivated by bringing about positive changes via projects aimed at lessening the effects of skills incompetencies & creating a more sustainable future through innovative education.

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BIA Innovator Campus

Role in W2W: Lead Partner

Established in 2017, BIA is Ireland’s leading VET body for the food sector, providing incubation and innovation support and mobilising industry collaboration projects. These include climate smart initiatives, inclusion and citizenship projects around food sovereignty and security. As a VET organization, BIA is also an inclusive point of access to powerful food industry knowledge and skills all in one place.

As project manager, BIA will work hard to ensure effective teamwork, encouraging partners to be proactive in communications and contribute meaningfully to all project activities. Coordination and communication will reflect the human centered design approach with an emphasis on agile processes, roadmaps and milestones, in balance with spaces for user insights, reflective listening and exploratory thought that will lead to more creative, innovative and effective outcomes.
Michelle Kelly

Emilia Furey - Project Manager

Key skills Emilia brings to W2W include extensive experience in project management and coordination and expertise in specialty food retail management for SMEs in Irish Food Industry.

Emilia Furey

Michelle Kelly - Project Coordinator

Key skills Michelle brings to this project include experience in coordinating projects for Erasmus+, research and design of education protocols and networking of key stakeholders.