Estonians have long been smart consumers and throwing away edible food was simply unthinkable just a few decades ago. As a consumer society, however, we have reached a point where everything is available everywhere and in abundance. We have more choices than we need and that has led to a growing problem: edible food is ending up in the trash.

Around 167,000 metric tons of food waste are generated in Estonia each year. About half of that — more than 80,000 metric tons — is food loss, meaning food that was still fit for human consumption. That amount would have been enough to meet the annual food needs of roughly 100,000 people.

Food loss occurs throughout the food supply chain, from primary production and the food industry to wholesale and retail trade, food service and households. In addition to its economic costs, food loss also has significant environmental impacts. Producing food requires land, water, energy and human labor. When edible food becomes waste, all of the resources used to produce it are wasted as well.

At the same time, there are people in Estonia who struggle to put food on the table every day. The number of people in need of food assistance has not gone away, yet the Estonian Food Bank's warehouses are often empty.

Unfortunately, these two problems — food waste and access to food — exist side by side in Estonia.

Food may be left over even with good planning

Companies put considerable effort into planning production, inventory and food preparation as accurately as possible. No business wastes food intentionally — it simply would not make economic sense. At the same time, it is impossible to eliminate surplus food entirely. When producers, retailers, caterers or event organizers plan quantities, they have to account for the possibility that actual consumption will differ from forecasts, and no business wants to run out of food that people need.

For example, organizers of last year's Song and Dance Celebration could not risk having any choir or dance group go without soup. Even with highly experienced caterers and careful planning, it is difficult to estimate quantities precisely for an event of that scale, and some food was left over.

Because the possibility of donating surplus food had been anticipated in advance and the entire process had been planned, the donation effort went smoothly. A total of 8,700 liters of leftover soup was distributed to people in need through various organizations. Careful event planning is certainly important, but it is equally important to have a plan for what happens when edible food is left over.

Estonia has the necessary capacity for food redistribution

Estonia has effective systems in place for rescuing and redistributing edible food. Both nationwide and community-based initiatives have emerged to help reduce food loss and ensure that surplus food reaches people who can use it.

The Estonian Food Bank is the country's longest-running and largest food redistribution organization. Its mission is to reduce food loss while helping people who struggle to afford enough food. Every week, food assistance reaches more than 15,000 people through the Food Bank's network. In 2025, the Estonian Food Bank distributed approximately 4 million kilograms of edible food to people in need.

In addition to the Estonian Food Bank, a number of community-based initiatives across the country help reduce food waste and make food sharing a normal part of everyday community life. For example, community food cabinets (such as Foodsharing and Toiduringlus), maintained by local volunteers, operate in many parts of Estonia. People can leave food they are unable to use, and anyone who wants it is free to take it. Other initiatives, such as Fudloop, allow people to purchase food rescued from stores and wholesale warehouses for a nominal fee. At daycare centers, parents and staff can also take home leftover edible food from food cabinets at the end of the day.

The work of all organizations involved in food redistribution is important not only because they reduce food loss, but also because they help reinforce the understanding that edible food belongs on people's tables — not in the trash.

Food donation needs to be systematic

The Ministry of Climate has circulated for interagency review a bill to amend the Waste Act with the aim of reducing food loss and increasing the donation and redistribution of edible food. Under the proposal, by 2030 food waste must be reduced by at least 10 percent in the food industry and by at least 30 percent in retail, food service and households, compared with the average for 2021–2023.

The bill does not require companies to donate food. Instead, it seeks to establish a system in which businesses have a clear plan for ensuring that edible food reaches people when surplus remains despite careful planning.

The Food Bank supports the proposal and considers one of its most important changes to be the requirement that larger retail and food manufacturing companies disclose on their websites what share of the edible food they write off is donated. This will make it possible to assess whether a company has organized its operations so that as much edible food as possible reaches people rather than becoming waste. It will also help reduce the risk of greenwashing — that is, companies highlighting partnerships with food redistribution organizations even though the actual share of donated food from their total surplus is very small or nonexistent.

Another important change is the requirement that larger retailers and food producers offer to enter into a cooperation agreement with the Food Bank or another food redistribution organization. Such an agreement does not obligate companies to donate all surplus food. Instead, it helps them establish an effective system for situations in which edible food is left over.

At present, food donation often depends on whether a company has an employee who considers it important and takes the initiative. It is possible that a company's management is not even aware that donations are taking place or to what extent. This approach is neither sustainable nor conducive to organizing food rescue in a systematic way.

A cooperation agreement helps establish how the surplus food donation process will work: who is responsible, when and how the food will be transferred and what food handling requirements must be met. This gives both the donating company and the receiving organization confidence that the entire process has been carefully planned.

It is important to prevent edible food from ending up as waste simply because its further use was not properly planned or because no suitable partner was available at the necessary moment.

For companies, it is important that their food donation partner be a trustworthy organization capable of accepting food quickly, maintaining the required cold chain and distributing it to people in need.

Responsibility shared by entire food supply chain

According to a 2020 study by the Stockholm Environment Institute's Tallinn Center (SEI Tallinn), more than half of all food loss occurs in households. This shows that raising public awareness about how to plan food purchases more effectively and make better use of leftovers is essential to reducing waste. The national government and local governments have gradually been working to increase that awareness.

Although households account for a large share of food loss, that is no reason to overlook the rest of the food supply chain. Reducing food loss is not the responsibility of any one group — every link in the chain must do what it can. For businesses, that primarily means improving planning, tracking food loss and establishing systems for redistributing edible surplus food.

Many companies in Estonia's food manufacturing, wholesale, retail and food service sectors have already made food donation and redistribution a routine part of their operations. However, there are still businesses where edible food continues to end up as waste. The proposed legislative changes are intended primarily to help those companies that have not yet adopted a systematic approach to reducing food loss.

Neither the Food Bank nor other food redistribution organizations want to reduce companies' revenue or impose unreasonable obligations on them. Instead, we want to follow the food waste hierarchy, under which food that can no longer be sold but is still safe for human consumption should first be directed to people, then to animal feed and only as a last resort to biogas production or composting.

Edible food is not waste. Estonia has the people, expertise and infrastructure needed to reduce food loss and ensure that edible food is consumed rather than discarded. The goal of the proposed amendments to the Waste Act is to help make surplus food donation a standard practice throughout Estonia.

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