Earth Day 2024: 4 effective strategies to reduce household food waste

By Amar Laila, University of Guelph, Cristina Gago, Boston University, Jess Haines, University of Guelph

The global food system produces enough food for everyone, yet, in 2023, 333 million people worldwide were food insecure and 783 million were chronically hungry. An estimated 1.3 billion tons of food — 14 per cent of all produced — is lost or wasted globally every year.

1.3 billion tons of food is enough to feed over three billion people.

Food waste contributes to nearly eight to 10 per cent of all greenhouse gas emissions. That level of emissions is on the scale of what a large country would produce — just under total emission estimates of the United States and China — posing serious contributions to climate change.

The greatest contributors to food waste are high-income countries, where the average consumer wastes between 95-115 kilograms of food per year. In Canada, approximately 60 per cent of food produced is lost or wasted per year, costing an estimated $49.5 billion. This figure constitutes about half the annual food purchase costs in Canada and three per cent of Canada’s 2016 GDP.

We are researchers who have worked or are currently working on solutions to this issue of food waste.

Why food loss and waste occurs

Food waste and loss occurs at every stage of the food chain.

Pre-distribution food loss can occur, for example, due to poor harvests. Meanwhile, the post-harvest handling and storage can also cause waste as food is discarded for imperfections or damaged in transit.

While some food loss and waste — such as with eggshells, tea bags or bones — is unavoidable, a lot of it can be avoided, especially in retail and household settings.

The retail context is where approximately 14 per cent of avoidable food waste occurs as foods are often overstocked by grocery stores prioritizing constant availability at the expense of wasted product.

In households, food is primarily wasted due to spoilage, with the greatest volume lost being perishables, especially fruits and vegetables.

Read Full Story https://theconversation.com/earth-day-2024-4-effective-strategies-to-reduce-household-food-waste-224224