Food Loss and Waste: Facts and Futures

WWF South Africa reports that one-third of the country's food (10 million tonnes annually) is wasted, costing the economy R61.5 billion and wasting significant water and energy resources. Most waste occurs early in the supply chain, particularly in fruits and vegetables. The report highlights the environmental impact of landfill methane and the social contradiction of high waste alongside widespread hunger and childhood malnutrition. It calls for collaborative action, better data reporting via the FLW Standard, and improved consumer education on date labels to reduce waste.

• South Africa wastes approximately 10 million tonnes of food annually, which represents one-third of the 31 million tonnes produced in the country. This waste results in a financial burden of R61.5 billion, or 2.1% of the national GDP.
• Food waste in South Africa has significant environmental costs, including the waste of approximately 1.7 km3 of water (about one-fifth of total water withdrawals) and embedded energy costs of R1 billion per year. The energy wasted is estimated to be enough to power the city of Johannesburg for roughly 16 weeks.
• The distribution of food waste in South Africa occurs primarily early in the supply chain. Agricultural and post-harvest stages account for 50% of waste, followed by distribution and retail at 20%, processing and packaging at 25%, and the consumer level at 5%. Fruit and vegetables are the most wasted category at 44%.
• Approximately 90% of waste in South Africa ends up in landfills, where food waste produces methane and carbon dioxide. Methane is noted as being 28–36 times more impactful on the environment than carbon dioxide over 100 years.
• Globally, a third of edible food produced (about 1.3 billion tonnes) is lost or wasted. While developed regions (Europe, North America, and Oceania) have higher per capita waste at 900 kg per year, developing regions (Africa and Asia) have lower per capita waste at 460 kg per year, though waste in the latter occurs primarily at initial supply chain stages due to infrastructure and managerial constraints.
• Food waste is linked to severe nutritional deficiencies in South Africa. Specifically, 43.6% of South African children are deficient in Vitamin A, and 10% suffer from iron deficiency anaemia.

APA

von Bormann, T., de Vries, L., Jenkins, N., Tian, N., Modau, I., Pillay, P., Carle, B., Notten, P., & Rose, M. (2017). Food Loss and Waste: Facts and Futures. WWF South Africa. http://awsassets.wwf.org.za/downloads/WWF_Food_Loss_and_Waste_WEB.pdf

Chicago

von Bormann, Tatjana, Leani de Vries, Nicola Jenkins, Nan Tian, Innocentia Modau, Pavitray Pillay, Bridget Carle, Philippa Notten, and Marlene Rose. Food Loss and Waste: Facts and Futures. WWF South Africa, 2017. http://awsassets.wwf.org.za/downloads/WWF_Food_Loss_and_Waste_WEB.pdf.

Wikipedia

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BibTeX

@techreport{vonbormann2017food, author = {von Bormann, Tatjana and de Vries, Leani and Jenkins, Nicola and Tian, Nan and Modau, Innocentia and Pillay, Pavitray and Carle, Bridget and Notten, Philippa and Rose, Marlene}, title = {{Food Loss and Waste: Facts and Futures}}, institution = {WWF South Africa}, year = {2017}, url = {http://awsassets.wwf.org.za/downloads/WWF_Food_Loss_and_Waste_WEB.pdf}, urldate = {2026-08-17}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }