EU households waste over 17 billion kg of fruit and veg a year | Progresiv
EU households generate about 35.3 kg of fresh fruit and vegetable waste per person per year, according to a study cited by the European Commission. What’s more, 14.2 kg of this is avoidable. The UN's Food and Agriculture Organisation estimates that about one third of the food produced globally for human consumption is lost or wasted. 
According to national studies, fresh fruit and vegetables contribute to almost 50% of the food waste generated by EU households. This is to be expected given that they make up about one third of total food purchases, some of their mass is inedible (peels and shells), they are highly perishable and relatively cheap.
However, a recent study found that the avoidable waste could be reduced by applying targeted prevention strategies, and that the unavoidable waste (in the form of inedible parts of the product) could be much more sustainably managed at the manufacturing stage and recycled for use in a circular economy.
Unavoidable waste and avoidable waste was calculated for 51 types of fresh fruit and vegetables in six EU countries (Germany, Spain, Denmark, the Netherlands, Finland and the UK) for 2010. These figures were used to estimate the unavoidable and avoidable waste generated by EU households from the consumption of fresh fruit and vegetables.
On average, 29% (35.3 kg per person) of fresh fruit and vegetables purchased by households in the EU-28 is wasted, 12% (14.2 kg) of which was avoidable.
The authors found large differences in the avoidable and unavoidable waste generated by the different countries due to different levels of wasteful behaviours (linked to cultural and economic factors) and different consumption patterns (which influence the amount of unavoidable waste generated). (www.freshplaza.com)
