Food waste falls but Netherlands is off track for 2030 goal

Dutch households are throwing away less food, but the decline has slowed and the Netherlands is on course to miss its 2030 target, according to the food advice agency Voedingscentrum.

Households binned an average of 25 kilos of food per person last year, down from 28 kilos in 2022 and 30 kilos in 2019, the agency’s latest three-yearly study found, in figures reported by broadcaster NOS. That works out at around €100 of food a person over the year. The official aim is to cut waste to 18 kilos a head by 2030.

Bread is the most wasted item, followed by vegetables, fruit and potatoes. Together those four make up 53% of the food thrown out.

The figures come from sorting analysis of household bins, covering the residual waste of 130 households across 13 councils and the organic waste of 120 households in 12.

Easy gains are gone

The sharp fall recorded over the past decade is levelling off, and the Voedingscentrum warns the 2030 goal will not be met on the current trend.

The country is “reasonably on track”, sustainable food expert Lilou van Lieshout wrote in the report, but needs to take further steps in the coming years to reach it.
The easiest changes have already been made, she said, and the cuts still to come will be harder.

Its advice to consumers is practical: freeze bread as soon as it is bought and defrost it in portions, store food correctly, and avoid shopping while hungry.

The agency also points to widespread confusion over date labels – the best-before date, a quality guide after which food is often still fine, and the stricter use-by date, which is about safety and applies to perishables such as meat, fish and pre-cut vegetables.

The Voedingscentrum and the Together Against Food Waste foundation (Samen Tegen Voedselverspilling) are launching a campaign this month. Cutting food waste forms part of a UN commitment to halve waste by 2030 against a 2015 baseline.