Radio | News week in plain Finnish | Sunday 28.9.2025

Food waste

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This week, Finland has celebrated Food Waste Awareness Week. The purpose of Food Waste Awareness Week is to encourage people to reduce food waste and increase appreciation for food.

Finnish households throw away over 100 million kilograms of food every year.

Now we will tell you more about it.

The biggest waste of vegetables

![Eating human.](https://images.cdn.yle.fi/image/upload/c_crop,h_3510,w_6240,x_0,y_0/ar_1.777777777777777 7,c_fill,g_faces,h_431,w_767/dpr_1.0/q_auto:eco/f_auto/fl_lossy/v1732799489/39-788664605db3952eba0)

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You can reduce food waste by planning your shopping and meals carefully. Photo: Toni Pitkänen / Yle

Food waste occurs in every home at some point. Food waste means when food is thrown away.

Food is thrown away if it has gone bad. However, food that is perfectly fine is also thrown away.

The Natural Resources Institute Finland reports that each Finn throws away approximately 23 kilograms of food per year. In total, households waste approximately 140 million kilograms of food per year.

Home cooks waste the most vegetables.

Plan your meals

![Old cabbage.](https://images.cdn.yle.fi/image/upload/c_crop,h_2529,w_4496,x_0,y_391/ar_1.77777777777777 77,c_fill,g_faces,h_431,w_767/dpr_1.0/q_auto:eco/f_auto/fl_lossy/v1728893073/39-1363255670cd02cce9fe)

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Vegetables are the most commonly thrown away food in home kitchens. Photo: Carina Ahlskog / Yle

There are many reasons for food waste. People may buy too much food at once, causing some of the food to go bad before it can be used.

Food can also spoil and vegetables can become mushy if stored incorrectly. People also throw away food just to be on the safe side when they suspect it is out of date.

The Finnish Consumers’ Association advises that waste can be easily reduced by planning shopping lists and meals carefully and storing food supplies correctly. It is not a good idea to throw away leftovers, but rather to use them to make a new meal.

Savings on your invoice

Customer carrying shopping cart in grocery store.

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Reducing food waste also reduces the grocery bill. Photo: Tiina Jutila / Yle

Food waste is money wasted. The Consumers’ Association calculates that households throw away food worth almost 600 million euros each year.

Reducing waste is immediately visible on the bill. For example, a family of four can save several hundred euros a year by not throwing away food.

Waste Prevention Week also aims to remind people that throwing food away is a waste of natural resources.

Repetition

![Bio waste bin.](https://images.cdn.yle.fi/image/upload/c_crop,h_3271,w_5815,x_0,y_36/ar_1.77777777777 77777,c_fill,g_faces,h_431,w_767/dpr_1.0/q_auto:eco/f_auto/fl_lossy/v1640435342/39-6174225de0e8225fdd4)

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Biowaste container. Photo: Tiina Jutila / Yle

The topic of the news week this time was food waste.

Every Finn throws away about 23 kilograms of food per year. Vegetables are the most commonly thrown away food.

You can reduce waste by planning your shopping lists and meals carefully and storing food properly.

Reducing food waste saves natural resources and money.

That’s all - see you next week!