We waste as much as 61,000 tons of food – an average of 1.6 kilograms per person – during the holiday season. Almost all of us admit to throwing away food, even though the problem of holiday waste has been talked about for a long time.
As many as 83 percent of people admitted to throwing away food between December 23 and December 30 in a survey conducted by Opinia24 for Too Good To Go, a company that works to reduce food waste.
The survey asked, among other things, what products most often end up in the trash and when exactly we throw them away. Knowing this can help you plan better and reduce waste. The results are based on food waste diaries that nearly 600 study participants kept during the holiday season last year.
Christmas Eve “food waste day”
The reasons for wasting food on holidays are not surprising – 63 percent of respondents themselves say that they prepare more than they actually need for the three days of the holidays. And we waste the most on Christmas Eve.
The most important reasons for throwing away food include spoilage of products (this reason was mentioned by 29 percent of respondents) and being considered stale (18 percent). However, the most important thing was declared by every third person not to use the leftovers resulting from the preparation of dishes.
In addition, 12 percent of respondents indicate that they throw away food that is too much, and 7 percent that they no longer want.
On an annual basis, the vast majority of food waste is happening in our homesand a smaller part in stores or restaurants. Therefore, during the holidays and throughout the rest of the year, it largely depends on our habits and behavior to reduce this problem. The basis is good planning of shopping and cooking – so as not to be left with more food during the holiday season than we actually eat, especially when it comes to perishable products.
Before the holidays, it's worth making sure you have room in the freezer, because many of them are uneaten things we can store it there for later. You can freeze a wide variety of ingredients and dishes – not only dumplings, but also e.g. unused vegetables or fruits (from which we will later make a cocktail or soup) and ready-made meals (also e.g. soups).
Unwanted carp?
Throughout the holiday season, fruit and vegetables are the most frequently thrown away (it is estimated that as many as 11,000 tons are wasted), followed closely by meat and soups. There is also a lot of wasted drinks and ready-made meals. Less frequently wasted products include sweets, desserts and sauces.
What we throw away varies from day to day. At the end of the holidays, we get rid of the leftovers of drinks, on December 25 and 26 of soups, and on Christmas Eve we mainly throw away fish. Looking at the total amount of wasted food, fish – such as carp, which is not necessarily to everyone's taste – do not constitute the largest part, but there are reasons to avoid wasting fish and meat in particular. Their production may involve a heavy burden on the environment and animal suffering. When we throw away animal products, it's all in vain.
It's worth adding that It is inhumane to sell live carp. How Małgorzata Szadkowska told us, president of the Compassion in World Farming Polska organization, the reality of selling live fish is “carp in pools with dirty water that is poorly oxygenated, being pulled out with landing nets, fish hitting each other, which leads to injuries.” Szadkowska emphasized that the carp “literally has no voice”, but if it were otherwise, “there would be a scream that no one could bear when entering a supermarket” with live fish. – In Poland, fish is probably perceived a bit like a vegetable. Carp is a sentient being, an animal that feels pain and suffering. They suffer in supermarkets, in these vats, she emphasized. This year the organization once again appealed to the authorities to ban the sale of live carp.
Christmas overconsumption
During the holidays, not only a lot of food ends up in garbage containers, but also a lot of other waste, including various packaging. Year by year, we generate more and more such waste (according to the latest data, it is 83 million tons in Europe and an increase of 30 percent in the last decade), and the holiday season is the “peak” of waste production, informs Reloop Platform – an international non-governmental organization working for reducing the waste problem.
The increase starts with November promotions and Black Friday, through Christmas with gift buying, to January sales. Globally, only a small portion of packaging – including plastic – is recycled, and in practice, many of them are not even recyclable.
– We are encouraged to consume, constantly motivated to buy more and faster. However, it is important to realize that consumption always generates waste. On the one hand, these are tons of products unsold by producers, and on the other hand, waste from households, such as food and drink packaging, parcels from online stores, clothes, shoes and electronic equipment.
– says Anna Larsson, director of Reloop Platform. In addition, the problem of waste management – including the wave of additional packaging during the holiday season – falls largely on individuals and local authorities, not on companies that profit from sales. According to Larsson, the answer should be to implement the so-called Extended Producer Responsibility (ROP). These are regulations that require manufacturing companies to be financially responsible for what happens to their products and their packaging. On the creation of such regulations in Poland He's working Ministry of Climate and Environment, but it is not known when these may be adopted.