Global Tragedy of Food Wastage

Published: 5th Apr, 2024

Context

Households around the world binned one billion meals a day in 2022, as per a report by the United Nations.

1: Dimension- Impact of food waste

GHG Emissions: Food waste necessitates the conversion of vast areas of land for the production of crops that are never eaten and it emits five times as many greenhouse gases into the atmosphere as the aviation industry.
Big contributor to the climate and biodiversity crises: Not only is this waste squandering natural resources, it is also a big contributor to the climate and biodiversity crises, displacing wildlife from intensive farming, as more than a quarter of the world’s agricultural land is given over to the production of food that is subsequently wasted.
Economic loss: Food loss and waste causes about USD 940 billion per year in economic losses. Reductions can save money for farmers, companies, and households.

2: Dimension- Main causes of Food Waste

Climate changealso contributes to food losses and lack of food security.
Hot weather: More food appears to be thrown away in hot countries, perhaps reflecting the shorter time it takes for food to spoil in higher temperatures, a lack of access to refrigeration and higher consumption of fresh food with more inedible parts.
Personal preferences: Apart from natural causes, personal preferences also contribute to wasted food.
Poverty: Poorer households also tend to throw away food. This may reflect many factors, including a lack of access to adequate refrigeration and storage, reliance on lower quality food and a lack of time to make nutritious meals.

Case Study: Required Approach

Food Waste Collection: In the UK, the government has announced £295m of funding for local councils to organise weekly collections of food waste, aimed at composting and preventing food waste from going to landfill, where its rotting generates methane, a powerful greenhouse gas.
- Collecting food waste separately can encourage people to reform their habits, as they see clearly how much of what they buy is going into the bin.
Food rescue scheme: In Johannesburg, South Africa, a food rescue scheme is channelling waste foods to those who need it most during the pandemic.
Food banking is also an important and unique model in reducing food loss and waste, because food banks not only work with farms, manufacturers, retailers and food services to rescue wholesome food, but they also make sure that food ends up on the tables of people facing food insecurity.

Fact Box: Key-highlights of the Report

Report Title: Food Waste Index Report. It tracks the progress of countries attempting to halve food waste by 2030.
Over USD 1 trillion worth of food (which is nearly one-fifth of the produce available on the global market) was thrown away by businesses and households when about 800 million people were going hungry.
Food loss in supply chain: These figures exclude an additional 13% of food that is lost in the food supply chain, between harvest and market, often from rejection or spoilage of edible food.
Few countries have plans in place to reduce food waste and most fail to include it in their proposals for reducing carbon emissions.
- Around the world, about 79kg of food is wasted per person annually. But in some countries, including the UK, Australia, Indonesia, Mexico and South Africa, food waste has been cut substantially since 2007. Japan has cut its food waste by nearly a third, and the UK by about 18%.

Indian household wastage

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