Climate solutions series: how does Switzerland deal with the food waste problem?

A bin bag can tell you a lot about a country. We follow the trail of rubbish from Swiss kitchen cupboards and discover why one of Europe’s wealthiest nations still throws away so much edible food. With fresh data, on‑the‑ground auditing, and candid insights from practitioners, we break down the gap between lofty goals and everyday habits, and why households remain the biggest lever for climate impact.

If you would like to see a video and read about the topic of the food waste in Switzerland and read the collection on climate solutions, and more stories, please visit Swissinfo Science.

Jounalist: Kristian Foss Brandt

Video journalist: Vera Leysinger
Host: Jo Fahy
Audio editor: Michele Andina
Distribution and Marketing: Xin Zhang

SWI swissinfo.ch is a public service media company based in Bern, Switzerland. 

Transcript

Kristian Foss Brandt 0:52

Swissinfo podcasts. On average, each Swiss resident discards edible food worth about 600 Swiss francs every year.

Claudio Beretta 1:03

If a country spends less money for food, then the tendency is that you waste more because you can afford it.

Kristian Foss Brandt 1:12

Switzerland is almost at the top of the European list.

Claudio Beretta 1:15

If we just look at we have to reduce by 50% to reach the goal, then we are totally far away from being on track.

Ladina Schröter 1:23

If you pay attention to your food and also are aware of where it comes from, what does it take to grow it, etc., then you're much less likely to waste a lot.

Claudio Beretta 1:33

Now we can see the big actors started to act. This is also very important to increase the motivation of households to also do their contribution.

Jo Fahy 1:57

Despite years of awareness campaigns and a national project to reduce waste, large amounts of edible food go directly from Swiss kitchens into the bin. Why does that happen and how can we fix it? That's what we're talking about in this episode of the Swiss Connection Science Podcast.

Kristian Foss Brandt 2:49

Bags are dropped onto the ground. Residents sort quickly between cardboard, metal and glass, the visible end of the Swiss recycling system. What's missing though is the household waste, usually discarded in wastebags close to home. And what's inside those isn't clear from the outside. But federal researchers have an idea. They sort, weigh and classify the contents down to individual food items. While the latest survey from 2025 shows a drop in household waste, Switzerland's numbers remain high, and the country is far behind its goals for reducing the amount of edible food that is thrown away.

Claudio Beretta 4:17

We also waste a lot in our own home compost if people have a garden. Or they feed it to pet or if we have liquid waste like soups or drinks, milk, then we pour it into the sewage stream. And this has not been quantified in Switzerland, and there we have still a black hole, not knowing how much how this developed, and we just made the assumption that the relation is similar to other countries.

Goals, Progress, And The 2030 Gap

Kristian Foss Brandt 4:58

At farms, doing processing, in transportation, at stores and in homes. However, households still make up the largest share of the environmental impact of wasted food, since the food in our fridges carries the emissions from all the previous steps in the chain. In 2017, the Swiss government pledged to halve food waste by 2030. But since then, the country has only managed to reduce 5% across the entire food system. How do you interpret this result? What is your conclusion when you look at how far we are?

Claudio Beretta 5:36

We can look at this in different perspectives. If we just look at we have to reduce by 50% to reach the goal, and there are still five years left for the remaining 45%, then we are totally far away from being on track. Especially if we consider that the first 10% or the first 20% reduction is mainly possible with simple measures, and the last 20% are much more challenging to read. On the other hand, if we consider we have 2.8 million tons of food loss and waste in 2017, and if we extrapolate how many tons these 5% are and how many actors have become active and do something taking measures to reduce this, then we can see wow, that that's a lot that we achieved.

Jo Fahy 6:34

It seems like there's still a lot to be done though, doesn't there?

Kristian Foss Brandt 6:37

Yes, there is. But there's also a convincing argument that when actors like producers and retailers are doing their part, other people are more likely to follow. The ball is already rolling.

Claudio Beretta 6:50

This is also very important, these actions across the food value chain, to increase the motivation of households to also do their contribution because often what is blocking being active is the mindset why should I act if the big actors don't act? And now we can see the big actors started to act, some of them even quite seriously.

Big Actors Move, Households Follow

Kristian Foss Brandt 7:26

Well, on average, each Swiss resident discards edible food worth about 600 Swiss francs every year. According to a 2024 report from the United Nations Environment Programme, that's almost 120 kilos of food waste on average that every Swiss person generates at home.

Jo Fahy 7:46

And that's a lot more than other countries' waste, isn't it?

Kristian Foss Brandt 7:49

Yes, it is. The Western European average is 80 kilos, so third less. Switzerland is almost at the top of the European list, with only Portugal exceeding it. Although I was told that we should look at these numbers cautiously, since they do not take into account the different countries use different methods to measure their food waste. Just as an example, in some countries people eat the peels of apples, carrots, and potatoes, while in others those are considered inedible and are not included in the equation. So we are also dealing with cultural differences here. Still, I think it's fair to say that Switzerland is high up.

Jo Fahy 8:29

And why do you think that is? Is it a lack of awareness?

Kristian Foss Brandt 8:32

Well, the simple answer is Switzerland wastes because it can.

Why Rich Countries Waste More

Claudio Beretta 8:36

If we look at the big differences between developing countries and rich countries, then we can clearly see that if a country spends less uh money, less fraction of the money that we have available in our budget for food, then the tendency is that you waste more because you can afford it. So for example, there was uh data in Cameroon where they spent forty-five percent of their total budget for food and they cannot afford to buy more than they need. And so the food waste there at the household level is negligible. Whereas in our rich countries we only spend seven percent of the total budget for food in Switzerland. I think that's about the present estimation. And so i if if we spend seven percent or nine percent doesn't hurt us so much.

Jo Fahy 9:30

What can people do about food waste then if they do want to do better?

Kristian Foss Brandt 9:34

I think we have to become more mindful of spoilage. We should develop a better sense for the real value of food and try not to cook more than we eat. But we should also learn more about how to correctly store food, like knowing what ingredients can be frozen, or things like not to store apples, tomatoes, and bananas in the same place, as they will ripen or go bad much faster. And we should better understand when something has really gone off or when it's still fine to eat. For instance, Zurich University of Applied Sciences found out that a fifth of household food waste is caused by misunderstanding the best before dates on packaging.

Jo Fahy 10:13

Yes, a lot of people struggle with that, don't they? And don't get me started on avocados. They're either too hard or they've already gone bad. So if somebody can tell me what I should do with them, I'd be very grateful.

Practical Fixes At Home

Kristian Foss Brandt 10:23

That's true. The best before labels are not safety warnings but quality guarantees from the manufacturer. So when it says best before, customers are supposed to check if the food is still good after those dates and not immediately assume it has gone bad. Depending on what it is, it can still be consumed long after that date. Only when the label says use by, then that food should not be eaten after that date, as it might pose a health hazard. That's often the case with raw meat or food made out of raw eggs. Another problem is consumer expectations around how something looks. So if a carrot looks bent or doesn't have the right size or whatever, people don't buy it. So here as well, some retailers have taken steps to limit waste by easing cosmetic standards.

Ladina Schröter 11:14

Hi, hello.

Kristian Foss Brandt 11:15

Hi Ladina, hi.

Ladina Schröter 11:17

Hi, nice to meet you too.

Kristian Foss Brandt 11:19

I call Ladina Schroeder, a project manager at foodwaste.ch. The organization focuses on practical interventions, such as helping households plan meals, storing food correctly, and interpreting date labels properly. Schroeder told me that one of the biggest challenges is that people tend to underestimate the amount of food they waste in their own household. Why is it so hard for people to recognize food waste or what are the main culprits there?

Best Before Vs Use By

Ladina Schröter 11:51

I think it's in the end, it's probably a lack of attention. So we have all so many demands on ourselves during our busy everyday lives, and then it's it's just hard to keep track of that thing as well. And this is actually also where our organization is trying to kind of like you know, like focus the attention on, because our claim is is for the love of food, and and like the theory behind it is that if you you know are aware um and and and kind of like take care and pay attention to your food, and also are aware of where does it come from, what does it take to grow it, etc. Um, also socially share it um and and and and share the joy of food, then you're much less likely to waste a lot.

Rethinking Ugly Produce

Kristian Foss Brandt 12:45

For Schroeder, there is no single solution. Food waste happens at many points, and that means we need many small changes repeated and reinforced. Foodwaste.ch coordinates regular events across the country like food safe banquets. Experiences from other countries suggest this strategy can work long term. Where household food waste has declined, efforts tend to be sustained over time rather than launched as one-off campaigns. In the UK, the long-running Love Food Hate Waste campaign combined public funding with household audits and regular measurement, showing consumers not just the waste occurs, but how it happens. And my home country Denmark turned food saving into a social norm supported by food sharing networks and companies that sell on food at a cheaper price than would otherwise go in the bin. What these approaches share is not a single policy or idea, but consistency. Investment is sustained, messages repeat, and efforts scale. Switzerland by contrast has often piloted strong initiatives without committing to them nationally. Switzerland still has time to meet its 2030 target. Whether it does so will depend less on raising awareness than on tackling household food waste systematically through sustained policies, funding, and long-term engagement, rather than one-off campaigns.

Jo Fahy 14:20

Thank you so much for bringing us that report, Christian.

Kristian Foss Brandt 14:23

You're welcome.

Foodwaste.ch And Behavior Change

Jo Fahy 14:26

Next week on the Swiss Connection Science Podcast, we're looking at the impact of climate change on migration. Having to move because of climate change is something that many people think will happen sometime in the distant future. But it's already happening today, as an example from Bangladesh shows. For more science stories, visit our website swissinfo.ch. And you can help others to find our podcast by leaving us a five-star review, or you can share our podcast with a friend. Today's episode was recorded and edited by our science and video journalist Michele Andina. For more content, check out our websites for Simfo.ch. I'm Jo Fahy. Thanks for listening.