Across Europe, families are cutting back, but the bins keep filling. Nowhere is the contradiction starker than in Greece, one of the EU's worst offenders on food waste despite a brutal cost-of-living squeeze.

The scale is jaw-dropping. In 2023, EU countries dumped an estimated 58.2 million tons of food. Households are the biggest culprits, responsible for roughly 53 percent of the waste. Greece sits near the top of the league with 201 kilograms of food binned per person, far above the EU average of 130 kilograms. 

Whilst good food goes to landfill, household budgets are stretched thin, with 11.3 percent of people in Greece saying they cannot afford a proper meal every other day, compared with an EU average of 8.5 percent.

Food-rescue groups say more supermarkets, hotels and caterers are donating surplus, but not nearly enough to bend the curve. "We finally have hard data and there's no reduction," says Dia Chorafa, Coordinator of the Alliance for the Reduction of Food Waste with Boroume. 

"If anything, it's up year-on-year. Households are just under half of the problem."

Their fixes are blunt and achievable: give donors clear liability protection, make near-date markdowns routine, and when food won't sell, donate it. The mantra: eaten, not binned.

Consumer advocates point to a price spiral that begins long before the checkout. 

"From field to shelf, prices multiply three, four, even 10 times," says Apostolos Raftopoulos of the Union of Consumer Workers. "Intermediaries profit; families pay." 

That gap fuels a perverse cycle: people buy less, promotions can still encourage over-purchasing, and too much ends up in the trash.

The government insists it's fighting back with audits, fines and targeted controls, and says relief is coming. 

"The battle against the high cost of living is ongoing and a top priority for the government," says spokesperson Pavlos Marinakis. 

He argues the main lever is raising incomes, backed by tax cuts and broader policies, while conceding inflation has left a mark across Europe.

Brussels has drawn a line: binding 2030 targets to cut food waste 30 percent per capita in retail, food services and households, and 10 percent in processing. Hitting those numbers will take clearer date labels, smarter promotions, tighter supply chains and a surge in redistribution.

The bottom line? Greece doesn't need fuller bins; it needs fuller plates. Cut waste where it starts, price food fairly, protect donors who do the right thing and make sure edible food feeds people, not landfills.