Food Waste Survey

Rabobank began supporting food rescue charity KiwiHarvest in early 2020. Since 2017, Rabobank has commissioned research into New Zealanders’ food waste habits, with the four most recent reports (2021, 2022, 2023, and 2025) developed in collaboration with KiwiHarvest.

download the latest 2025 report
Food Waste Survey

2025 Rabobank and KiwiHarvest Food Waste Survey Key Findings

  • New Zealanders are wasting less of their food than two years ago with the estimated percentage of household food waste dropping to 10.9% from 12.2% in 2023
  • This fall has driven a decrease in the overall value of wasted food across New Zealand, with this now dipping to $3.0 billion per annum (from $3.2 billion in 2023) despite marginal increases in household food spend and the total number of households
  • While Kiwis food waste attitudes and behaviours are largely similar to 2023, small improvements in a few key areas helped drive food waste lower
  • 35% of Kiwis say they are wasting less food than they did a year ago with only 5% saying their food waste has increased
  • ‘Food going off before you can eat it’ (45 per cent) and ‘before use by and best before dates’ (33 per cent) remain the reasons most frequently cited for food waste
  • New Zealanders remain the most concerned about ‘the wasted money’ resulting from food waste, with this cited as a key concern by 73 per cent of respondents.
With estimated food waste at 10.9%, Kiwi households are effectively throwing away 5.7 weeks’ worth of their total food spend each year.*
On average, males and people living in urban areas are wasting a greater proportion of their total food spend than females and those in rural areas.*
Less than 1 in 5 Kiwis believe enough is being done to educate New Zealanders about food waste.*
9% of Kiwis plan to eat more meat, but that jumps to 23% among Gen Z.*
More Kiwis are cooking at home (up from 22% in 2023), and dining out more often (up from 19% in 2023).*

*2025 Rabobank - KiwiHarvest Food Waste Survey

Download the 2025 food waste survey

KiwiHarvest and Rabobank

We've teamed up with KiwiHarvest to help on their mission to reduce the amount of good food that is wasted each and every day in New Zealand.  Our support helps KiwiHarvest to make a difference and helps them to get rescued food to tables in our most vulnerable communities.

KiwiHarvest has grown significantly, from rescuing 1.2 million kgs in the year to March 2020 to over 3 million kgs in the year to March 2025. Thats 130,000 meal equivalents (450g) going to families in need every week of the year.

 

learn more about KiwiHarvest