Papp urges Estonia to make food donations routine

Food donations should become a standard practice in Estonia so that edible food does not become waste, Katarina Papp, partnership coordinator at the Estonian Food Bank and a European Climate Pact ambassador, writes in an opinion article published by ERR.

Estonia generates approximately 167,000 tonnes of food waste each year. About half of that, or more than 80,000 tonnes, is food loss: food that would still have been suitable for eating. This amount could have met the annual food needs of about 100,000 people.

Food loss occurs throughout the food supply chain, from primary production and food processing to wholesale and retail, catering and households. It also has significant environmental consequences. Land, water, energy and human labour are used to produce food, and when edible food becomes waste, all those resources are wasted as well.

At the same time, some people in Estonia struggle to fill their daily food baskets. The number of people needing food aid has not disappeared, while the Estonian Food Bank’s warehouses are often empty.

Food waste and access to food therefore remain two problems that exist side by side in Estonia.

Surplus food can occur despite careful planning

Companies work hard to plan production, stock levels and the quantities of food prepared as accurately as possible. No business deliberately wastes food, as doing so would not be economically beneficial. However, it is impossible to prevent surplus food entirely.

When a producer, retailer, caterer or event organiser plans quantities, they must account for the possibility that actual consumption will differ from forecasts. No company wants to run out of food that is needed.

For example, organisers of last year’s Song and Dance Celebration could not risk leaving a choir or dance group without soup. Even with experienced caterers and careful planning, it is difficult to estimate quantities precisely at an event of that scale, and some soup was left over.

Because the possibility of donating the surplus food had been taken into account in advance and the entire process had been planned, the donation was successful. A total of 8,700 litres of leftover soup was distributed to people in need through various organisations.

Careful planning is therefore important, but plans must also cover what happens when edible food remains.

Estonia has the capacity to redistribute food

Estonia has functioning solutions for saving and redistributing edible food. Nationwide and community-based initiatives have emerged to reduce food loss and get surplus food to people.

The Estonian Food Bank, the country’s longest-established food redistribution organisation and the one with the largest network, aims to reduce food loss while helping people who have difficulty filling their own food baskets. More than 15,000 people receive food aid through the organisation every week.

In 2025, the Estonian Food Bank distributed approximately four million kilograms of edible food to people in need.