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Technical Platform on the Measurement and Reduction of Food Loss and Waste (TPFLW)

International Day of Awareness of Food Loss and Waste - 29 September

International Day of Awareness of Food Loss and Waste

                                                29 SEPTEMBER 2025

The sixth observance of the International Day of Awareness of Food Loss and Waste is approaching and is calling for the expansion and strengthening of stakeholder efforts to reduce food loss and waste, as a critical element of securing a sustainable food future for all.

It's time to get involved and take action!

Sixth observance of the International Day of Awareness of Food Loss and Waste
Get Involved Guide
27/05/2025

Download the Get Involved Guide of the 6th observance of the International Day of Awareness of Food Loss and Waste

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DID YOU KNOW?

Learn why reducing food loss and waste is more urgent than ever

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KEY MESSAGES

Every action taken to reduce food loss and food waste matters!

Stop food loss and waste. For the people. For our planet.

The United Nations recognizes the importance of reducing food loss and waste. On 19 December 2019, the UN General Assembly adopted resolution 74/209 proclaiming an International Day of Awareness of Food Loss and Waste (IDAFLW). The International Day of Awareness of Food Loss and Waste seeks to promote awareness and collective action to reduce food loss and waste.

Decreasing food loss and waste is, in fact, enshrined in the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) – within SDG 12, which seeks to ensure sustainable consumption and production patterns, Target 12.3 aims to “halve per capita global food waste at the retail and consumer levels and reduce food losses along production and supply chains” by 2030.

The world’s population, currently at 8.2 billion, is expected to grow to close to 9.7 billion people by 2050 (UNDESA, 2024). Ensuring a food secure world – where current and future populations have access to sufficient nutritious food – crucially requires new ways of working, and concerted efforts to improve the sustainability and resilience of agrifood systems globally.

Reducing food loss and waste (FLW) helps to protect natural resources and biodiversity, reduce pollution and greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, and maximize the use of food produced. It is therefore central to securing efficient, inclusive, resilient and sustainable agrifood systems, and to improving food security, nutrition and health.

Embracing innovation and fostering circular economy approaches in agrifood systems to prevent, reduce, reuse and repurpose FLW also serves to create new job opportunities, improve livelihoods and generate financial benefits for a range of stakeholders.

Now is the time for everyone – from producers, investors, businesses and supply chain stakeholders to consumers of all ages, as well as academia and research, civil society, and the private and public sectors – to take urgent action to expand and strengthen efforts both individually and collectively, to reduce food loss and waste towards ensuring a food secure world – now and in the future.

 

Food loss and waste in numbers

  • An estimated 13 percent of food – the equivalent of 1.25 billion tonnes – was lost globally after harvest and prior to reaching retail shelves in 2021 (FAO, 2023).
  • An estimated 19 percent of food – the equivalent of 1.05 billion tonnes – was wasted in households, food service and retail in 2022 (UNEP, 2024)
  • Households account for 60 percent of global food waste (UNEP, 2024).
  • Approximately 28.9 percent of the global population – 2.33 billion people – were moderately or severely food insecure in 2023 (FAO et al., 2024).
  • One out of eleven people in the world faced hunger in 2023 (FAO et al., 2024).
  • Food loss and waste generate 8 to 10 percent of global GHG emissions (IPCC, 2019).

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Previous observances of the International Day of Awareness of Food Loss and Waste

29 September 2023

29 September 2022 

29 September 2021

29 September 2020