Achi news desk-
Last Updated: March 28, 2024, 11:02 IST
People use self-checkout counters at a Metro Cash and Carry supermarket in Moscow, Russia December 22, 2023. (Reuters File Photo)
The United Nations Food Waste Index Report reveals that 1 billion meals are wasted every day while a third of humanity faces food insecurity. Food waste affects climate change, biodiversity and pollution
While a third of humanity faces food insecurity, the equivalent of one billion meals goes to waste every day. The United Nations Environment Agency (UNEP) revealed this on Wednesday in its Food Waste Index Report 2024, which showed that 1.05 billion tonnes of food went to waste in 2022.
Around 19 per cent of the food available to consumers overall was lost at retail, food service and household levels. That’s in addition to about 13 percent of food lost in the supply chain, as estimated by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), from post-harvest to the point of sale.
‘tragedy’
“Food waste is a global tragedy. Millions will go hungry today as food is wasted around the world,” said Inger Andersen, Executive Director of UNEP, explaining that this ongoing issue not only affects the global economy but also exacerbates change in the climate, loss of biodiversity, and pollution.
Most of the world’s food waste comes from households, amounting to 631 million tonnes of total food waste. The food service and retail sectors were responsible for 290 and 131 million tonnes respectively. On average, each person wastes 79 kilograms of food each year. This is equivalent to 1.3 meals every day for everyone in the world who is affected by hunger, the authors of the report underline.
A ‘rich country’ problem?
The problem is not limited to affluent nations. Following the almost doubling of data coverage since the publication of the 2021 Food Waste Index Report, there has been more convergence between the rich and the poor. High-income, upper-middle-income, and lower-middle-income countries differ in average levels of household food waste of just seven kilograms per person per year.
The biggest divide comes in the variations between urban and rural populations. In middle income countries, for example, rural areas generally waste less. One possible explanation is the recycling of food scraps for pets, animal feed, and home composting in the countryside. The report recommends focusing efforts on strengthening food waste reduction and composting in cities.
Waste
The report finds that there is a direct correlation between average temperature and levels of food waste. Hotter countries appear to have more food waste per capita in households, possibly due to greater consumption of fresh foods containing fewer edible parts and a lack of robust refrigeration and preservation solutions.
Higher seasonal temperatures, extreme heat, and drought make it more challenging to store, process, transport and sell food safely, often resulting in a significant amount of food being wasted or lost. As food loss and waste produce up to 10 per cent of global greenhouse gas emissions – almost five times the total emissions compared to the aviation sector – reducing emissions from food waste is essential, according to a UNEP expert .
Hope
There is room for optimism, the report suggests: public-private partnerships to reduce food waste and impacts on climate and water stress are being welcomed by an increasing number of governments at all levels.
Examples include Japan and the UK with reductions of 18 per cent and 31 per cent respectively, showing that change at scale is possible, if food is rationed correctly. Published ahead of International Zero Waste Day, the UNEP Food Waste Index Report, co-authored with WRAP, a UK climate action NGO.
