Bread has transcended time and culture, its significance extending beyond mere sustenance. We encounter it everywhere, across the globe, in rites of passage, portrayed in literature and art, demonized or glorified by influencers and nutritionists of the day. All of this is because bread has never left the forefront of consumption. It’s an alimentary staple, simultaneously cherished and wasted, appreciated for how its flavors and aromas tap into our memories, reminding us of the loved ones we once shared the Earth with, yet also reviled as the first culprit for those extra pounds or any deviations from our ideal physique. Today, the way we obtain and consume bread raises pressing issues that force us to reevaluate our stance on this food product. In many cultures, discarding bread is forbidden, steeped in superstitions forecasting misfortune or calamity. I myself grew up in a family where leaving a morsel of bread uneaten was unthinkable. Certain parts of the bread, like the crust, were off-limits to young boys, under the pretext that they would marry a gypsy if they ate it. Throwing away bread scraps was so unacceptable that I can’t recall ever having such an impulse at home. As an adult, in the rare instances where I’ve had to do so, I still carry the weight of that decision in my heart.

However, bread waste has become a significant problem in the modern world, which is why I’ve taken the liberty to share the main points that scientists have written about this subject in an article published this year.

For instance, in the Flemish region of Belgium, an average person consumes around 38 kg of bread annually. In 2015 alone, 270 million kg of bakery products were produced, of which 69 million kg ended up as waste. Nearly 64% of this waste occurs at the household consumer level. A survey conducted in 2017-2018 shed light on bread disposal habits: 40% of respondents justified their actions by claiming the bread and pastries had gone bad, while 20% confessed to buying too much bread. In the year 2019, each household in the Netherlands discarded approximately 7.3 kg of bread and bakery products, accounting for 20% of the total bread production that year. Sweden exhibits similar behavior, throwing away 80,410 tons of bread each year, or 8.1 kg per capita. Without claiming exact figures, based on my industry experience, I estimate that Romania discards about 2.5% of its total bread production, roughly 45,000 tons per year. This excessive waste is not solely due to people’s lack of respect for bread; this food product has swiftly become a common commodity in the modern economy, just as readily available as water or air. Bread has a unique quality—it goes stale quickly. For example, about 10% of bread put on the market by the Tesco supermarket chain in the UK ended up as waste during 2021-2022.

Bread waste is a way in which we are squandering immense resources. To produce 1 kg of bread, it takes 1608 liters of water, and the energy consumption for obtaining 1 kg of dough is estimated (depending on the technologies used) to be between 1.3 and 5.5 MJ (I don’t know if these energy figures resonate with you, but they are roughly equivalent to taking a long hot shower, using a hair dryer for half an hour, running a washing machine cycle, the energy consumed by a laptop during a day of work, or leaving a 100W light bulb on for 34 hours).

Before bread, the cultivation of cereal crops requires significant water and energy resources. To produce 1 kg of wheat, between 900 and 2000 liters of water are needed. This doesn’t even account for the energy required to transport the wheat to mills, grind the grains, and transport the flour to bakeries. In essence, curbing bread waste, emblematic of the food waste of our times, would be a significant contribution to the fight against climate change. Researchers have envisioned various strategies to make use of old bread, starting with its nutrient-rich composition (carbohydrates, proteins), favorable for various fermentations. Avoiding overproduction of bread is estimated to lead to a reduction in CO2 emissions of -0.66 kg per 1 kg of bread, while ethanol production, animal feed creation, and beer production would contribute to net savings of -0.56 kg, -0.53 kg, and -0.46 kg CO2 equivalent, respectively.

The moral of the story I’ve shared is that within every waste lies a resource that can become valuable. If efforts were encouraged for recycling and reuse, bread waste could become a channel for sustainable practices, showcasing its potential to positively impact both nutrition and the environment. Unfortunately, bread remains a food item trapped between ancient practices and modern regulations, nearly impossible to adhere to: few are aware that discarded or returned bread cannot legally be used as animal feed, even though this has been a practice for centuries or millennia in rural areas. This is explained by modern animal welfare legislation’s demands that animals be fed food designed for them and delivered to them under safety conditions similar to those applied to human food. Therefore, the only chance to utilize bread waste from the industry or household consumption is to invest in recycling and valorization strategies aimed at creating entirely new products.