Analysis of research on direct measurement of food waste in Belgrade shows that commercial sector throws away over 40 thousand tons of food annually

Within the direct measurements that were carried out, a total of 29 representative commercial outlets were observed,: hotels and other accommodation, restaurants and fast food outlets, retails, schools and kindergartens, and other commercial outlets.

Quantities of food waste from commercial outlets

Based on the obtained projected data, most of the waste is generated within the group of restaurants and fast-food outlets, with over 21 thousand tons annually. This is followed by retail outlets with 4,767 tons/year, schools and kindergartens with 3,551 tons/year, and finally groups of hotels and accommodation with an annual generation rate of 1,302 tons. The remaining commercial food waste generators (public institutions and companies with their restaurants, markets, hospitals, etc.) generate more than 9,000 tons of food waste annually.

Morphological composition of food waste

The projection of the morphological composition of food waste shows that on average the most dominant category is vegetables, with a share of over 45 percent, with the highest percentage recorded within the group of schools and kindergartens (62 percent).

The second most represented category is fruit, with almost 19 percent, with this category being the most represented in the retail sector (over 38 percent).

The categories of meat, fish and eggs, and bread and pastries, in the total average composition, have similar values ​​(about 14 percent), while the category of milk and dairy products has the lowest value for virtually all observed groups of commercial establishments, with a final average share of about 5 percent.

If the amount of food waste from the commercial sector is shown in relation to the total population of Belgrade, 26.5 kilograms of edible and inedible food waste is generated per person annually. Also, previous direct measurements of food waste in households showed that every inhabitant of Belgrade throws away an average of 108.1 kilograms of edible and inedible parts of food annually. The summarized values ​​of these two researches indicate that the total food waste generated in Belgrade, on an annual level, is about 205,000 tons, or 134.6 kilograms per capita. This places Belgrade at the top of the list of European cities in terms of the amount of food waste generated when compared to other cities according to the UNEP Food Waste Index Report.

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About the project: These two researches were conducted following the methodology of the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) for measuring the global food waste index, during September and October 2021, and will be the starting point for all future research in this area. The research was conducted with the support of the United Nations Environment Programme, within the project "Build Back Better: Using Green and Digital Technologies to Reduce Food Waste at Consumer Level".