Avery Dennison (NYSE:AVY), As businesses return from 2025’s holiday trading season, new data has revealed that
food waste continues to erode margins and is one of the most costly, yet hidden, challenges in the global retail
supply chain.
This is according to the Making the Invisible Visible: Unlocking the Hidden Value of Food Waste to Drive Growth
and Profitability report, published today by Avery Dennison, a global materials science and digital identification
solutions company. Independent modeling warns that the economic cost of food waste across the global supply
chain is forecast to reach $540 billion by 2026, up from $526 billion last year.
In addition, the report findings show that, on average, food waste costs are equivalent to 33% of total revenues in the
food retail supply chain annually from post-farm up to the point-of-sale.
Extensive research involving 3,500 global food retailers and supply chain leaders reveals that, despite growing
awareness, 61% of businesses say they still lack full visibility into where food waste occurs across their operations.
Limited influence over the most waste-intensive areas of the supply chain is a common challenge, highlighting the
urgent need for targeted innovation and cross-supply chain collaboration.
The data highlights how leaders are consistently challenged at various points throughout the supply chain and most
specifically across perishables. When asked to identify the three most difficult categories for waste, half pointed to
meat (50%), 45% cited produce, and 28% mentioned baked goods. Over half (51%) of business leaders said that
inventory management and overstocking contribute significantly to food waste within their operations. Tackling this
will require a combination of solutions, including item-level inventory visibility, demand forecasting and real-time
shelf-life management.
Transit remains a connecting thread between the different perishable categories, with 56% of companies reporting
that they do not have a clear understanding of how much food waste happens when goods are being transported.
If current trends continue, the cumulative cost of food waste from 2025 to 2030 is expected to reach $3.4 trillion,
coinciding with the 2030 deadline for the UN’s Sustainable Development Goal 12.3, which aims to halve global
food waste. Despite this goal, the report uncovered that over a quarter (27%) of leaders said that they would not
meet the 2030 deadline.
Julie Vargas, VP/GM, Enterprise Intelligent Labels Growth, Avery Dennison, says: “Food waste has become an
accepted cost of doing business, but it doesn’t have to be. Innovation exists today to help overcome the complexity
of food waste by unlocking new possibilities and transforming a historic operating cost into measurable value across
the global retail supply chain.
“The retail ecosystem is changing, but not enough retailers are changing with it. The biggest challenge is what we
can’t see. From transit to shelf, blind spots are silently eroding margins. With the right innovation, we can turn this
loss into measurable value and shift the conversation on food waste, from being purely seen as a sustainability issue,
into a business critical one. This is about unlocking efficiency and growth across the entire supply chain.”
A high cost challenge intensified by the holiday season
Meat has emerged as one of the most difficult categories for waste management, with 72% of supply chain leaders
citing it as their biggest challenge. Given its high unit cost in grocery and food retail, even small reductions in waste
can deliver significant financial gains. Economic modeling forecasts meat waste to amount to $94 billion in lost
output across the global supply chain in 2026, almost one fifth of the total cumulative loss across the year, with fresh
produce closely behind at $88 billion.
Just ahead of peak season trading results are announced, Avery Dennison found that over two thirds of businesses
(67%) were predicting that meat waste during the holiday season was expected to noticeably reduce their margins
and that managing this issue over one of the busiest times of the year had become a bigger operational concern than
before (69%).
For retailers, pressures presented by economic volatility, poor adaptability to market-related shocks and difficulty
adjusting to shifting consumer demands are exacerbating systemic food waste issues. Almost three quarters (74%) of
retailers admit inflation is making it harder than ever to predict demand for fresh meat and 73% report a rising
demand amongst consumers for smaller meat portions or alternatives.
Michael Colarossi, VP, head of enterprise sustainability, Avery Dennison, adds: “For too long, food waste has been
positioned almost exclusively as a sustainability and societal issue. We must recognize it as the business opportunity
it truly is. In fact, over seven in ten (73%) business leaders told us that they see tackling food waste as a growth
opportunity. That’s why the $540 billion in lost value should be a clear call to action for the food retail supply chain
to cut waste and boost efficiencies. Only by uncovering the blind spots in the chain can we take meaningful steps to
reduce loss, build resilience and create lasting value for both businesses and the planet.”
