You often can’t tell how many resources have been used to get food into our fridge or onto our plate. So, when we throw out our leftover spaghetti, we at the same time waste all the effort involved in growing, processing and transporting it. Basically, it’s about our food deserving more appreciation and that we can all have an impact with our behaviour.
Here you can find out how many resources are actually contained in the foods that are most likely to end up as waste in Switzerland. We want to make this as tangible as possible through comparisons.
For example, 150 litres of water are roughly equivalent to a full bath while 300 g of CO2-equivalents are roughly equivalent to a 1 km journey in a medium-sized car. The environmental impact points (EIP) add up all emissions, e.g. for transport, noise or storage. 1’000 environmental impact points correspond to approximately 15-20 hours of laptop use.
On average, one kilogram of apples generates around 300g of CO2-equivalents (1km car journey) and uses up more than 800 litres of water (> 5 full baths). The total environmental impact of one kilogram of apples is estimated at 1200 points (20 hours of laptop use).
Roughly 32% of all Swiss apples end up as waste – from apples that do not meet the sales standards to those that shrivel up in our homes and that we therefore no longer want to eat.
Each kilogram of bread produced generates around 600g of CO2-equivalents (2km car journey) and uses up around 600 litres of water (4 full baths). The total environmental impact of one kilogram of bread is around 3,250 EIP (60 hours of laptop use).
Nonetheless, a staggering 55% of bread is wasted in Switzerland – from the bran that is not used for white flour to the leftover bread that has hardened at home because we have already bought a fresh loaf.
The production of one kilogram of hard cheese on average generates around 6,000 CO2-equivalents (20km car journey) and uses up 6,000 litres of water (40 full baths). The total environmental impact of one kilogram of cheese is around 11,000 EIP (200 hours of laptop use).
In Switzerland, however, around 35% of cheese and dairy products are wasted – from the whey generated during production to the piece of cheese that ends up rotting in our fridge.
A plate of cooked spaghetti generates roughly 200g of CO2-equivalents (2/3km car journey) and uses up around 180 litres of water (1 full bath). The total environmental impact of a portion of spaghetti is approximately 600 EIP (8 hours of laptop use).
The spaghetti symbolise all the foods that we have already cooked but that end up as leftovers on our plate or in the pan and go to waste.
There are many ways to reduce your own food waste. One of them is Madame Frigo’s public fridges where anyone can leave leftover food for others or take some home for themselves. You can find all the locations here.
The correct handling of best-before dates, planning one’s shopping and the correct storage of food are further important factors. You can find more information on these topics on the foodwaste.ch website. And if you are looking for tips and recipes for specific foods, why not take a look at Save Food, Fight Waste.
The figures given here are not to be regarded as absolute but as approximations. Different calculation methods can lead to different results. Of course, it is also important where the water used for production comes from, for example.
We based our calculations on the scientific study ‘Ökologische Fussabdrücke von Lebensmitteln und Gerichten in Deutschland’ and on data from the Swiss Society for Nutrition.