Guests: Karin Fritz (Swedish Food Agency), Mattias Eriksson (Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences), Lorena Lourido Gomez (IKEA Retail / IKEA Global)
This special episode of the Sustainable Living Podcast brings together three of the Swedish experts who spoke at the Romania–Sweden Expert Exchange on 24 November2025, offering a clear, data-driven perspective on how Sweden approaches food-waste reduction at national and global levels.
🟦 Karin Fritz – Swedish Food Agency
Karin Fritz provides an overview of Sweden’s national food-waste reduction strategy, structured around the four pillars of the National Action Plan:
· clear objectives and monitoring,
· collaboration across the food chain,
· consumer behaviour change,
· innovation support.
She highlights the progress made in households, where avoidable food waste decreased from 19 kg/person (2018) to 16 kg/person (2023), and emphasises the importance of education within public institutions, showing how food-wastemeasurement in schools and canteens has become a key tool for improving nutritional performance and reducing costs.
🟦 Prof. Mattias Eriksson – Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences
Mattias Eriksson explains Sweden’s methodology for collecting food-waste data, an annual investment of €50,000–€100,000 that enables the monitoring of foodwaste along the entire value chain.
He outlines Sweden’s progress toward the challenging objective of reducing food waste by 20% by 2025, starting from the current national level of 122 kg/person.
He also describes the situation in public institutions, where different categories of food waste (kitchen waste, service losses, plate waste) have been mapped in detail to support targeted interventions.
🟦 Lorena Lourido Gomez – IKEA Retail (IKEA Global)
Lorena Lourido Gomez presents the impressive evolution of IKEA’s work on food-waste reduction, an effort launched in 2012 and significantly accelerated through digital monitoring technologies. Among the key results:
· a 60.5% reduction in food waste compared to 2017,
· over 37.8 million meals saved by 2024,
· a comprehensive digital tracking approach across the company’s operations.
She describes IKEA’s three-level approach (reducing waste in operations, testing solutions for plate waste, and supporting consumers at home), highlighting the role of digital innovation and partnerships with organisations such as Winnow and Minska.
🎧 Why listen to this episode?
This episode offers direct access to Swedish best practices, real data, tested technologies, and a clear vision of how collaboration among authorities, companies, and research organisations can deliver practical solutions for reducing food waste.
A valuable resource for policymakers, retailers, researchers, NGOs, and anyone committed to building a circular and efficient food system.
