A further 13% of food is lost in the food supply chain, between harvest and market: the cause is almost always the spoilage of edible produce.
If anyone thinks that this enormous, senseless waste does not contribute to the climate and biodiversity crisis… they are of course very much mistaken. According to the UN report, it accounts for almost 10% of global greenhouse gas emissions.
“Food waste is a global tragedy”, said Inger Andersen, executive director of the United Nations Environment Programme, which drew up the report in collaboration with the UK’s Waste and Resources Action Programme (Wrap). “All this while a third of people face food insecurity, not knowing where their future meals will come from.”
Although this sad reality has been known for years, few countries have plans in place to reduce food waste, and most do not include it in their proposals for cutting carbon emissions.
It also seems that more food is thrown away in hot countries, perhaps because food spoils more quickly at higher temperatures, because of the lack of access to refrigeration and because of the greater consumption of fresh foods, which have more inedible parts.
Another surprising finding: poorer households tend to throw away food at a rate not much lower than that of higher-income ones, being responsible for about 7 kg less waste per person per year than wealthier ones. Here too, the lack of access to adequate refrigeration and storage and the reliance on lower-quality food play their part.
If about 79 kg of food per person is wasted worldwide every year, it is also true that some countries – such as the United Kingdom, Australia, Indonesia, Mexico and South Africa – have begun to cut food waste substantially, at least since 2007. Japan has reduced food waste by almost a third and the United Kingdom by about 18%.
So what is the solution? According to many experts, it lies in promoting collaboration “between retailers and food producers on the one hand and food banks on the other”.
“Food banking is an important and unique model for reducing food loss and waste,” the experts explain, “because food banks not only work with farms, producers, retailers and food services to rescue healthy food, but also make sure that the food ends up on the tables of people facing food insecurity.”
That is the way forward. But it must be pursued with commitment, and above all with adequate government policies to give this sector a push. Of which there is not even a hint, for now. At least here.
