The Dutch are wasting less food at home but are still binning 34.3 kilos of food per person over a year, new figures show

The amount of food the Dutch throw away is monitored once every three years by the government’s food advice agency Voedingscentrum, Wageningen University and the infrastructure ministry.

Compared to the last probe in 2016, the Dutch are wasting seven kilos less food, the researchers found. Agriculture minister Carola Schouten said the results show that the Dutch are becoming more aware of the problem of food waste and that the Netherlands is well on the way to halving food waste by 2030.

Less coffee, milk, juice and fizzy drinks were flushed away in the toilet or sink too. Compared to 2016 the Dutch wasted 11 litres less liquid but still flushed away some 45 litres of fluid per person.

Researchers don’t know what caused the downward trend but think food waste has become an issue that is more talked about.

There is also more information about how to combat food waste, they said, and people are becoming better at storing foodstuffs properly and keeping them for longer.