On the occasion of World Food Day, marked on October 16, the Centre for the Prevention of Food Waste on Wednesday warned that one-third of all food is thrown out due to poor storage and excessive buying, about which it wants to warn with the "Food is not Waste" campaign.

According to the centre’s head, Barbara Ilakovac, it is estimated that about 380,000 tonnes of food is thrown away in Croatia each year.

According to a survey of 350 respondents, only about 11% of the food thrown away is inedible.

Fruit and vegetables account for the major portion of food thrown away (45%), followed by bakery products (9%), while fish is rarely thrown away (3%).

An information stand has been set up at the Dolac farmers’ market to inform people of recycling, proper storage, planned shopping, and all with the aim of reducing the amount of food waste.

Ilakovac advised that informing and educating citizens is exceptionally important in the process of reducing the amount of food thrown away, adding that in Croatia and the EU households throw away the most food.

“Citizens’ awareness of separating waste is not at a high level in Croatia and food waste accounts for a large portion of utility waste. As much as 53% of food waste is produced by households,” she said.

“Due to its composition and degradation, that waste emits a large quantity of methane, which is exceptionally detrimental to the environment. It is essential to reduce the amount of waste, and prevention and redistribution of excess food helps a lot, which is something the European food waste management hierarchy recommends,” Ilakovac said.

The European Commission’s “waste hierarchy” sets the priority order when shaping waste policy and managing waste at the operational level.