Conquering Food Loss and Food Waste to Build a More Sustainable Global Food System

The global population reached 8 billion last year- a number only set to rise. This comes with increasing demands for basic needs like shelter, education, water and food. However, feeding everyone on the planet is proving to be a challenge as billions of food is lost and wasted every day.

According to the United Nations’ Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), about 14% of food in 2019 was lost from harvest, while 17% more, or 931m tonnes, was wasted at the retail and consumer levels. Both food loss and waste (FLW) represent a significant hindrance in building sustainable food systems, as they impact food security and nutrition, contribute to emissions and pollution and waste resources for production.

Food Loss and Food Waste Are Two Different Things

Average U.S. families spend $1,410 each year for foods that are never consumed.

Food travels from producers to consumers in a system called the food supply chain. Here, decisions are made that result in food being wasted due to different factors, and that loss is categorised as either food loss or food waste, depending on which stage it happens.

Food loss occurs at the first stages of the supply chain, where food gets spoiled or discarded even before it reaches consumers. This happens in post-harvest, processing and distribution due to varying factors like weather conditions and poor crop yield. But most of the time, food loss happens because of poor infrastructure – whether logistics, lack of technology, insufficient skills, knowledge and management capacity of supply chain actors, and lack of access to markets.

On the other hand, food waste happens further in the supply chain at the consumer level, whether in restaurants, supermarkets or homes. Food waste occurs as a result of both consumer behaviour and a lack of communication in the supply chain. For example, consumers have a tendency to poorly plan their purchases or be overly concerned about best-before dates. Meanwhile, players in the food supply chain such as strict quality standards for either size or aesthetic, could also be responsible for a huge amount of food waste.

Portion of FLW in stages of the food supply chain.

Another stark difference between the two is that food loss occurs in developing countries where producers face various challenges like extreme weather conditions, outdated technology and poor storage facilities. Meanwhile, food waste is a much bigger problem in high-income countries where food is abundant and less expensive, leading to consumers buying more food than they need.

How Much Food Is Lost and Wasted?

The FAO estimates that one-third of all food produced in the world is either lost or wasted, and the annual food loss, between harvest and retail market, is valued at around $936bn. Meanwhile, we waste about 1.3bn tonnes of edible food annually: 11% in households, 5% in food service and 2% in retail. According to estimates, this huge number could already feed 1.26bn hungry people every year.

Food waste contributes a whopping 3.3bn tonnes of CO2 equivalent of GHG emissions, as those in landfills are responsible for about 8% of global emissions. Thus, making food wastage the third biggest emitter after the US and China.

Furthermore, when food is lost or wasted, a significant amount of resources put into production also goes to waste. Food wastage contributes to biodiversity loss as it occupies about 1.4bn hectares of land. And the estimated amount of water used is estimated at 250 cubic kilometres. Additionally, it also accounts for 38% of total energy usage in the entire global food system. The environmental costs, from resources wasted to emissions produced, could reach up to $700bn annually.

Project Drawdown uses different scenarios to assess what determined, global efforts to address climate change might look like.

FLW is responsible for about 8% of global emissions. So, solving this problem also contributes to solving the worsening climate crisis. According to the world’s leading resource for climate solutions, Project Drawdown, improving storage and transport systems, generating public awareness and changing consumer behaviour are the solutions the world needs to reduce FLW and the greenhouse gases released in the process. 

The global economy also suffers as food waste costs up to $2.6tn per year. It also greatly impacts society as it reduces food security, increases food prices while reducing the income of producers and contributes to global hunger and malnutrition. All these are valued at $900bn.

Not solving FLW is a huge opportunity lost. If we think of food that usually ends up as waste as a valuable resource to be converted into energy or compost to enrich the crops, then food is only wasted in a linear economy. By implementing circular practices and improving recovery instead of food and produce ending in the dump, we can significantly reduce emissions and replace a portion of our energy needs from bio-based sources.

Global Solutions to FLW

The truth is, there is enough food to feed everyone on the planet. But because FLW happens at different stages in the food supply chain, from agricultural production down to retail consumption, 811m people remain undernourished and hungry. While 2.4bn people do not have regular access to adequate food.

All economic, social and environmental impacts we have listed are enough reasons to solve the global FLW problem. And the solutions currently available vary from raising awareness, developing infrastructure, digitisation and government policies.

FLW Initiatives

All over the world, hundreds of initiatives have been established with the primary goal of helping solve the growing FLW problem. Some of them include:

1. The United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) launched the “123 Pledge” to mobilise global action on food loss and waste as a key climate strategy.
2. US-based, student-led organisation Food Recovery Network (FRN) works to fight food waste and hunger by recovering surplus food from college campuses and donating it to those in need.
3. Feeding America is a network of food banks in the USA that rescues surplus food from various sources and distributes it to people facing hunger.
4. Champions 12.3 is a coalition of leaders from governments, businesses, and civil society organisations committed to achieving SDG Target 12.3, which aims to halve food waste and reduce food losses by 2030.
5. The Food Loss and Waste Index, developed by the FAO and UNEP, measures and monitors progress of efforts to reduce food loss and waste globally.

Government Policies

National leaders have also enacted policies to solve the same problem while also encouraging their citizens to reduce their food waste:

1. In India, the government has launched the Save Food, Save Money campaign, which aims to raise awareness about food waste and encourage consumers to reduce food waste.
2. The European Union launched the EU Platform on Food Losses and Food Waste, which promotes cooperation and exchange of best practices among member states to reduce food loss and waste.
3. The French government implemented a law that requires supermarkets to donate unsold food to charities or for animal feed and prohibits supermarkets from throwing away edible food.
4. Italy encourages food donations by providing tax incentives to its citizens.
5. South Korea requires large food waste producers to separate food waste and pay for its disposal, and provides incentives for households that reduce food waste.

Innovative Solutions

In 2021, companies offering solutions to prevent food waste have raised over €1.4bn in funding. According to Grand View Research, the market is expected to register a CAGR of 5.4% from 2023 to 2030. Here are just some of the companies in the space:

1. Apeel Sciences produces a plant-based coating that extends the shelf life of fruits and vegetables, reducing food waste in the supply chain.
2. Food company Rubies in the Rubble uses surplus produce to make condiments, reducing food waste and providing sustainable food options to consumers.
3. Too Good To Go is a marketplace connecting consumers with restaurants and shops that have surplus food at the end of the day, reducing food waste and providing affordable food to consumers.
4. Social enterprise FoodCloud connects food businesses with surplus food to charities and community groups, reducing food waste and providing food to those in need.
5. Winnow has developed a smart metre that tracks food waste in commercial kitchens, helping chefs to reduce food waste and save money.

FLW is proof that our global food systems are broken, as it can produce hungry and undernourished people as well as sufferers from being overweight. Change needs to happen in our homes, the supply chain and the laws concerning this problem to give everyone an equal chance to have access to safe food. We need to build a more sustainable food system, and we have to act now.

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