Agriculture minister says Germans throw away 11 tons of food every year

Germans throw away almost 11 million metric tons of food every year, Agriculture Minister Alois Rainer has noted in remarks to dpa ahead of a national awareness campaign starting on Monday.

“This immense waste of valuable resources can be reduced only by joint action,” Rainer says. The Agriculture Ministry believes that 60% of the waste comes from private households.

Rainer was speaking ahead of a “Too good for the bin” awareness campaign, the first events of which have been set for this weekend.

German consumer organizations are aiming to cut food waste amid widespread overproduction and oversupply.

“Food with expiry dates is removed from the shelves and discarded up to five days before the date is reached,” the national association of consumer organizations says.

People in need taking this food out of refuse bins are an acknowledged reality in Germany, despite the fact that this is illegal, the association says on its website.

The previous government considered partial legalization of the practice, but Germany’s 16 states were unable to agree on unified guidelines, which would be necessary under the country’s federal system.

An Agriculture Ministry spokesman said no new initiative on the issue was currently being planned.

Source: dpa

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