Half of all food produced — 2bn tonnes — thrown away

As much as half of all the food produced in the world — two billion tonnes worth — ends up being thrown away, a report claims.

The waste is caused by poor infrastructure and storage facilities, over-strict sell-by dates, “get-one-free” offers, and consumer fussiness, according to the Institution of Mechanical Engineers.

Each year countries around the world produce four billion tonnes of food. But between 30% and 50% of this total, amounting to 1.2 to 2 billion tonnes, never gets eaten, says the report Global Food: Waste Not, Want Not.