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Two years ago, I wrote a blog about food waste, where I mentioned that 31% of the food produced worldwide is wasted. This amounts to approximately 1.3 billion tons of fruits, vegetables, meats, dairy products, seafood, and grains. With this amount of food, we could satisfy the hunger of millions of people and contribute to food security. Additionally, food waste generates approximately 8% of all greenhouse gas emissions.
At AgroAmérica, we decided to adopt the Upcycled certification two years ago. This certification recognizes companies that transform food surpluses into recycled and healthy products, avoiding waste and its negative environmental and socio-economic effects. Since then, we have innovated and optimized banana production, transforming the surplus into upcycled food ingredients such as banana puree, flakes, and flour. In this way, we not only contribute to food security and the environment but also support the United Nations Sustainable Development Goal 12.3: to halve food waste.
From an economic standpoint, food waste represents a significant loss throughout the entire supply chain, affecting both producers and consumers. This loss translates into a waste of resources such as land, water, and energy, contributing to the depletion of natural resources and increasing pressure on the environment.
Moreover, food waste has ethical and social implications, exacerbating food insecurity and highlighting inequalities in the distribution and access to food resources.
PROGRESS
In recent years, significant progress has been made in reducing food waste through various initiatives and approaches:
Policies and Regulations
- European Union: The EU has proposed the adoption of national food waste reduction targets in line with its Circular Economy Action Plan. It is estimated that implementing these policies could prevent the loss of 47 million tons of food by 2030.
- Italy: In 2016, Italy passed a law facilitating the donation of unsold food by supermarkets and stores, simplifying bureaucratic processes and providing tax incentives. Since then, donations have increased by 20%.
Technology and Innovation
- Sensors and Monitoring: The implementation of sensor technologies to monitor the freshness and storage conditions of food has reduced post-harvest losses by 30% in some agricultural regions.
- Digital Platforms: Mobile applications like Too Good To Go have saved more than 100 million meals worldwide since their launch, preventing these foods from ending up in the trash.
Awareness Campaigns
- United Kingdom: The Love Food Hate Waste campaign has contributed to a 21% reduction in household food waste in the UK since 2007.
- United States: The Save The Food campaign, launched by the Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC) and the Ad Council, has reached millions of consumers with messages about reducing food waste, increasing awareness, and changing behaviors.
Donations and Food Recovery
- Food Banks: Food banks in the United States have increased the amount of recovered food by 70% in the past decade, distributing over 4.2 billion meals per year.
- Event Recovery: Initiatives like the Food Recovery Network have recovered more than 3 million pounds of food from college and community events in the United States that would otherwise have been wasted.
Packaging and Preservation Innovations
- Smart Packaging: Smart packaging, which changes color to indicate food freshness, has been shown to reduce retail sector waste by 15-20%.
- Advanced Preservation: Advanced preservation techniques, such as modified atmosphere packaging and ultra-rapid refrigeration, have helped extend the shelf life of perishable products by 50%, thus reducing waste in the supply chain.
Circular Economy
- Waste-to-Energy Conversion: Biogas plants in Europe converted 15 million tons of food waste into clean energy in 2020, providing electricity and heat to thousands of homes.
- Upcycling: Companies certified by the Upcycled Food Association have recycled more than 100 million pounds of surplus food into new products such as healthy snacks and nutritional supplements.
Collaborations and Alliances
- Champions 12.3 Coalition: This global coalition of business, government, and civil society leaders works to accelerate progress towards Sustainable Development Goal 12.3, which aims to halve per capita global food waste by 2030. The coalition has facilitated collaborations that have led to a 10-15% reduction in waste in several pilot regions.
- City Pilot Projects: Cities like Milan and New York have implemented food waste reduction programs resulting in a 20-25% decrease in municipal waste.
These advances reflect a growing global effort to address food waste and promote more sustainable and efficient practices in managing food resources.
DIFFERENCE BETWEEN LOSS AND WASTE
It is important to highlight the difference between food loss and food waste. While loss refers to any food that is lost along the supply chain due to issues in production, processing, or transportation, waste refers to the discard or non-food alternative use of food that is nutritious, safe, and fit for human consumption. Reducing both food loss and waste is fundamental to promoting a more efficient use of natural resources and improving global food security.
In addition to reducing food waste, we can also find creative ways to make the most of available resources. For example, banana peels, which are often discarded, can be used to fertilize plants, relieve rashes and itching, feed animals, and even polish leather and silver.
The challenge in utilizing food should not focus solely on producing more but on reducing both waste and loss to feed more people.
