What is in
our food?

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.

We want to make this consumption of resources 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.

Apple

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.

 

Foodsave-Recipe
Tasty apple puree

Resource consumption per kilo apples

  • 800 L

    Water consumption

  • 300 g

    CO2-equivalents

  • 0,1 m2

    Land consumption

Spaghetti

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.

 

Foodsave tip
Pasta also tastes good reheated! Do you have a plate of spaghetti, fusilli or penne left? Put it in a pan and add a little oil, butter/margarine or sauce. But it also works without.

Resource consumption per kilo spaghetti

  • 600 L

    Water consumption

  • 700 g

    CO2-equivalents

  • 0,4 m2

    Land consumption

Bread

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.

 

Foodsave Recipe
Crispy Croutons

Resource consumption per kilo bread

  • 600 L

    Water consumption

  • 600 g

    CO2-equivalents

  • 0,3 m2

    Land consumption

You want to reduce your food waste?

Madame Frigo no longer wants to see food that is still edible going to waste and polluting the environment. Neither do you? You can find the nearest public fridge 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.

Sources

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 is sourced, 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.

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