{"id":1865,"date":"2025-02-19T12:20:43","date_gmt":"2025-02-19T12:20:43","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/foodwastereport.leket.org\/food-waste-in-household-consumption-sector\/"},"modified":"2025-12-01T13:05:14","modified_gmt":"2025-12-01T13:05:14","slug":"food-waste-in-household-consumption","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/foodwastereport.leket.org\/en\/food-waste-in-household-consumption\/","title":{"rendered":"Environmental Impacts and Costs of Food Loss and Waste in Israel"},"content":{"rendered":"\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t
<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\t

NIS 4.2 Billion (USD $1.14b)<\/h2>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t

The total annual environmental cost of food loss and waste in Israel<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t

\n\t\t\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\t

57,000 Olympic-sized pools could have been filled with the water lost to food loss and waste in 2024<\/h2>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\"\"\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t

Food production relies on a broad range of resources\u2014land, water, fertilizers, chemicals, and energy\u2014and accounts for nearly one-fifth of global greenhouse gas emissions[1]<\/a>. Many of these resources are non-renewable,[2]<\/a> and their intensive use poses serious risks to water sources, soil health, air quality, and biodiversity worldwide.<\/p>

In 2024, the environmental cost of lost food in Israel is estimated at approximately NIS 4.2b (USD $1.14b)<\/strong>. This includes about NIS 1.6b (USD $432m) <\/strong>resulting from the unnecessary depletion of land and water resources, NIS 1.6b (USD $432m) <\/strong>\u00a0from greenhouse gas and air pollutant emissions, and NIS 1b (USD $270m) <\/strong>\u00a0in direct waste treatment costs. Across the various stages of the food supply chain (excluding the agricultural sector), food loss and waste generates an estimated 2m tons of municipal waste (including packaging), representing roughly 35% of Israel\u2019s total municipal waste. It is important to note that this is a conservative estimate, which does not account for environmental costs incurred outside Israel\u2019s borders, or for additional environmental impacts, such as loss of biodiversity.<\/p>

Although food production has well-documented environmental drawbacks, agriculture is generally not regarded as a polluting sector and is rarely subject to environmental taxes or levies. This is largely because the positive externalities of food consumption are considered to outweigh the negative externalities of its production. In many developed countries, food production and consumption are even supported through direct or indirect subsidies.<\/p>

However, food loss and waste, defined as food that is produced but not consumed, carry all the environmental costs of production, handling, and disposal, without delivering any of the benefits associated with consumption. As such, food loss and waste represent a pure environmental burden.<\/p>

Global recognition of the environmental consequences of food loss and waste has grown significantly in recent years. The FAO and the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) are jointly promoting a standardized international metric for measuring the scale of food loss and waste, under the Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) framework. In 2019, UNEP published the Food Waste Index Report, which for the first time underscored the environmental dimensions of food loss and waste and highlighted the importance of using life cycle assessment methodologies to quantify environmental impacts throughout the value chain. This momentum continued in 2023, when the FAO released its State of Food and Agriculture (SOFA) Report, focusing on the environmental impacts of food loss during the agricultural production and processing stages. The report estimates that losses at these stages alone result in approximately 2.5 gigatons of CO\u2082-equivalent emissions per year, illustrating the significant role of food loss in driving global warming. The FAO emphasizes that reducing food loss and waste is one of the most effective strategies for cutting greenhouse gas emissions, preserving land and water resources, and easing pressure on ecosystems.<\/p>

Efforts to reduce food loss can take many forms, ranging from measures that prevent surplus at the source to policies that promote food recovery and redistribution and strategies that prioritize composting and anaerobic digestion over landfilling. In this context, governments worldwide are employing a variety of policy tools aimed at minimizing food loss and waste.<\/p>

This section examines the environmental costs of food loss and waste in Israel, with a focus on impacts in 2024. The analysis addresses greenhouse gas and air pollutant emissions across the food production, consumption, and disposal chain, the loss of natural resources, particularly land and water, and the environmental burdens associated with waste treatment. The external costs of emissions were calculated using the methodology developed by the FAO.[3]<\/a> However, other environmental externalities, such as the impact on water and soil quality and biodiversity loss, were not included in this stage of the analysis. Therefore, the environmental cost assessment presented here is a partial estimate and serves as a basis for a more comprehensive environmental cost evaluation of food loss and waste in Israel in the coming years.<\/p>

It is important to note that the estimates presented here only pertain to environmental impacts occurring within Israel\u2019s geographic borders.<\/strong> They do not account for the natural resources used or emissions generated during the cultivation and production of food outside the country. This is a critical distinction, as Israel relies heavily on food imports, particularly in categories such as grains, sugars, oils, and fish. Currently, an estimated 80% of calories in the Israeli diet come from imported sources, whether through direct imports of food products or through animal-based products fed on imported feed.[4]<\/a> Certain food categories, such as grains and meat, have particularly high import ratios relative to national consumption. Accordingly, the full environmental impact of food discarded in Israel is greater than what is captured here.<\/p>

<\/a><\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t

\n\t\t\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/span>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t

[1]<\/a> http:\/\/www.fao.org\/economic\/ess\/environment\/data\/emission-shares\/en\/<\/a><\/p>

[2]<\/a> Cut Waste, GROW PROFIT. How to reduce and manage food waste, leading to increased profitability and environmental sustainability, Background Paper 2012<\/p>

[3]<\/a> FAO, Food Waste Footprint Full Cost Accounting, 2014<\/p>

[4]<\/a> Policy Paper | The Climate Crisis and Our Plate, Dr. Liron Amdor<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t

\n\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/span>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\"\"\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t

\u00a0<\/p>

The environmental impacts of food production, spanning cultivation, processing, marketing, consumption, and disposal, are largely driven by energy use and resource demands, and vary significantly by crop type. These impacts are compounded by the additional economic and environmental costs of managing discarded food and packaging waste.<\/p>

Beyond the direct environmental costs, food lost and waste in Israel in 2024 also resulted in significant resource losses. These included 1,310m kilowatt-hours of electricity\u2014roughly equivalent to the annual energy used to produce all electronic and electrical devices in Israel, and 80,000 tons of fuel, enough to power around 175,000 cars for a year. In addition, 190m cubic meters of freshwater were lost, enough to fill 57,000 Olympic-sized swimming pools, along with 220m cubic meters of reclaimed wastewater. The loss of approximately 1m dunams of agricultural land, an area equivalent to 20 times the size of Tel Aviv, further highlights the scale of the issue. Other losses included 180,000 tons of packaging waste, more than 60,000 tons of fertilizers, and about 3,000 tons of ammonia emissions from livestock. Together, these factors contributed to around 5m tons of greenhouse gas emissions in 2024, representing roughly 6% of Israel\u2019s total emissions.[1]<\/a> Under Government Decision No. 171, issued on July 25, 2021, regarding transitioning to a low-carbon economy,[2]<\/a> Israel is committed to reducing greenhouse gas emissions by 30% by 2030 and 85% by 2050, relative to 2015 levels. Additionally, in October 2021, the Prime Minister announced a national goal of reaching net-zero carbon emissions by 2050.[3]<\/a><\/p>

To support these national targets, the Israeli government set sector-specific goals in the same decision, aimed at reducing greenhouse gas emissions and increasing energy efficiency across the economy. These include reducing emissions from solid waste by at least 47% by 2030, compared to 2015 levels; cutting emissions from municipal waste by at least 92% by 2050, relative to the 2015 baseline of 5.5m tons; and decreasing the volume of landfilled municipal waste by 71% by 2030, compared to 4.5m tons in 2018. Reducing food waste in Israel will play a key role in supporting the national effort to meet greenhouse gas reduction targets and reduce municipal waste landfill rates.<\/p>

On December 3, 2024, the Knesset\u2019s Interior and Environmental Protection Committee approved the Climate Bill for its second and third readings, subject to revision. In its current form, the bill sets a national target of a 27% reduction in greenhouse gas emissions by 2030, and net-zero emissions by 2050. The proposed legislation must now be reapproved by the Ministerial Committee for Legislation, returned to the Interior and Environmental Protection Committee, and then proceed to a vote in the Knesset plenum.<\/p>

In January 2025, Israel\u2019s carbon tax came into effect. The tax is being applied gradually to polluting fuels such as coal, fuel oil, LPG, petroleum coke, and natural gas, with the aim of encouraging a shift toward low-carbon energy sources.<\/p>

In September 2025, the Ministry of Environmental Protection and the Ministry of Agriculture published a national plan to reduce food loss and waste. The plan outlines national targets under two progress scenarios:<\/p>