Lisbon, March 30, 2026 (Lusa) - A study by environmental association Zero found that Portugal's families waste up to 1,000 tonnes of food daily. The association based its figures on data from Ourique, a municipality in the Alentejo region (the southern rural region of the country).

On Monday, the Sustainable Earth System Association (Zero) warned that a population of just 300 could waste up to 12 tonnes of food a year at home, dumping it in unsorted waste. This alert coincides with International Day of Zero Waste, which the United Nations (UN) General Assembly established on 14 December 2022.

"Using this data, a city of 100,000 inhabitants could generate 3,760 tonnes of wasted food," the statement read. Instead of people consuming the food or donating it to those in need, it ends up in waste treatment plants or landfills.

Based on data from two communities in Ourique, the national total of waste is around 376,000 tonnes per year. This equals 38 kg per inhabitant each year, or about 1,000 tonnes a day.

In collaboration with the Ourique council, researchers analysed unsorted waste from three door-to-door routes. They studied a 250 kg sample collected twice over the course of a year under the "Zero Waste Cities" certification program.

Experts said that even when people separate bio-waste (waste that decomposes naturally), families still throw away significant amounts of food. This includes leftovers, fruit, vegetables, bread, and food still in the packaging.

"In the three neighbourhoods analysed in Ourique, with 150 homes and two catering establishments, 51% of undifferentiated waste is bio-waste. Food waste remains significant, representing 28% of bio-waste and 16% of total characterised waste," Zero concluded.

The association estimates that these three neighbourhoods waste more than 12 tonnes of food a year in their unsorted rubbish, assuming collection occurs three times a week.

HPG/LYT // ADB.

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