WWF wants plan to combat Germany's 18 million tonnes of food waste
The German branch of the WWF conservation group has called for a national strategy to cut food waste in Germany that it estimates at 18 million tonnes per year.
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The figure suggests that 2.6 million hectares of agricultural land - equivalent to 15 per cent of German agricultural land - have been cultivated only to discard its produce. More than half of this estimated waste could be avoided without great technical effort, according to the WWF.
The group based its figures on calculations by the Muenster University of Applied Sciences. Germany's Agriculture Ministry estimates annual food waste at 11 million tonnes.
A national strategy to cut food waste should be in place by 2020, the WWF said, criticising the federal government for failing to coordinate state-level initiatives.
"We need an inter-departmental strategy," WWF Germany executive board member Joerg-Andreas Krueger said.(dpa)
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