The United Nations International Day for Food Waste was last September 29. On that day, the Environmental Agency presented the results of a new study on the extent of food waste in Iceland, but this was the first time that food waste has been measured in the entire food value chain according to the European Union's standard methodology. The Environmental Agency's coverage can be found here: Food waste in Icelandic households is below the European average.
It turned out that food waste per population in Iceland was about 160 kg in one year. About half came from primary production and about 40% from households. The results for food waste overall were quite similar to other European countries. However, it is not possible to stop there because the goal for the future is to greatly reduce food waste.
The Icelandic government has set ambitious goals to reduce food waste by 30% by 2025 and by 50% by 2030. The measurements currently available will be used as a baseline for these goals.
At Matís, many projects have been carried out that can help reduce food waste. In a project on the value chain of vegetables measurements were made of the storage conditions and suggestions were made to reduce the wastage of vegetables. Matís has been involved in increasing the full processing of seafood in Iceland and elsewhere in the world, and is currently working on projects that can added value from by-products of vegetable production and meat production. Food packaging has been the subject of much discussion, not least problems regarding packaging plastic and its recycling, but you can read about these issues in Matís's report. Packaging can be important for the preservation of food quality, but deterioration of food quality due to deficiencies in packaging and handling can lead to food waste.
In addition to these projects, there are many others underway at Matís that contribute in one way or another to the better utilization of food and by-products of food processing, the promotion of the circular economy and sustainability thinking. Matís' project can be viewed here: