UNEP Report: Moroccan Households Waste 4.2 Million Tons of Food Yearly

Rabat – According to the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) and the non-governmental organization WRAP, the 2024 Food Waste Index report shows that Moroccan households waste 4.2 million tons of food per year.

The report stated that the amount of waste has increased by about one million tons, up from 3.3 million tons in the last report published in 2021.

Per capita, Morocco’s yearly proportion of food waste increased to 113 kilograms in 2022 from about 91 kilograms in 2021, based on data from the same report.

On the African continent, countries such as Algeria recorded 5 million tons of food waste, Tunisia stood at 2.1 million tons, Egypt (18 million tons), Mauritania (more than 422,000 tons), and Libya (almost 573,000 tons).

On the global scene, however, the report recorded that households wasted more than one billion meals on a daily basis in 2022.

These alarming figures coincide with the worsening humanitarian crisis and food shortages in some parts of the world, where hunger threatens around 783 million people. In addition, a third of mankind confronts serious risks and challenges to their food security.

Food waste is not limited to wealthy nations, the survey claims. The amount of greenhouse gas emissions from food waste worldwide is 8-10%, or about five times that of the aviation industry.

Another negative impact of food waste is biodiversity loss that consumes the equivalent of one-third of the world’s arable land and leads to costs to the global economy of almost one trillion US dollars.

The same report explained that while food waste is lower in rural regions globally, only 21 countries have strategies to eliminate this issue in their national climate policies. This can be explained by the growing usage of food leftovers as livestock or pet food, or as household fertilizer.

Executive Director of the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP), Inger Andersen, considered food waste a “global tragedy,” noting that millions of people may go hungry because of this issue.

Andersen emphasized that by giving this problem top priority, countries may reverse food loss and waste, lessen its effects on the environment and the economy, and get closer to accomplishing global goals in this area.