Clean your plate – to reduce food loss and waste

A large metal container is filled with discarded produce including peppers, eggplants, cabbages, bananas, watermelon, tomatoes, potatoes, and carrots, with a truck in the background. Food waste is helping to fuel global warming, one half-eaten sandwich at a time. In fact, throwing out lunchtime leftovers or wilted lettuce only adds to the mountain of discarded food decomposing in landfills that produces the powerful greenhouse gas methane, accounting for some eight to 10 per cent of global emissions.

A billion meals wasted
Every day, over a billion meals are left uneaten, whether due to excess food production, spoilage or poor meal planning, according to the UN Environment Programme (UNEP). The issue is in the spotlight on the International Day of Awareness of Food Loss and Waste, observed on 29 September – convened by UNEP and the UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO). This year, focus is on the link with protecting forests and ensuring sustainable agrifood systems.

“Using the food we already produce more efficiently can reduce pressure on land and forests and help feed more people,” said Michael Muratha, a Programme Manager at UNEP, speaking from its headquarters in Nairobi. Moreover, having healthy forests also support food production in several ways, including by protecting soils and regulating rainfall.

Cold comfort
UNEP is highlighting how taking action can reduce losses by promoting measures such as investing in better food handling, storage and transport. Mr. Muratha stressed that strengthening cold chain systems for perishable foods is also important. “In Kenya, a cooperative of 179 farmers near Nairobi was losing up to 40 per cent of its crops after harvest before receiving cold-storage and refrigerated transport equipment,” he said.

Better storage can also help farmers to cope with climate impacts, such as droughts, floods and periods of food scarcity, while reducing losses of nutritious foods in a world where 2.6 billion people cannot afford to eat a healthy diet rich in fruits and vegetables. “That’s why it’s really important to take these measures to preserve and conserve and reduce losses of food,” he said. UNEP is also backing efforts to redirect safe surplus food to people who need it, such as children at daycare centres in underserved communities.

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Source: The UN