According to a United Nations report, up to 17 percent of the food wasted in households, restaurants, and shops is thrown away yearly, weighing more than 900,000 tons. But the accurate scale of that number could be larger, as some food is also lost on farms and supply chains.
This suggests that the food we consume at the dinner table may only be about two-thirds of the food's weight.
Food waste has undone efforts to help billions of people who are either starving or unable to afford a healthy diet. Not only that, but food waste also has an impact on the environment. It is estimated that greenhouse gas emissions from food waste and loss account for 8% to 10% of total global emissions, and the impact of greenhouse gas emissions is believed to be familiar to everyone.
The United Nations Environment Program (UNEP) and its partner organization WRAP have now released the Food Waste Index Report, which believes that in 2019 when the latest data is available, about 931 million tons of food was wasted. Of these, 61% came from family life, 26% from food service, and 13% from retail. In other words, each of us has a responsibility, especially consumers.
Inger Andersen, head of UN Environment, said in a statement: "Reducing food waste will reduce greenhouse gas emissions, slow the destruction of nature by land movement and pollution, and increase food availability, thereby reducing hunger and saving money.
Businesses, governments, and citizens around the world must do their part. " The survey found that the per capita food waste generation of households in different income groups in different countries is generally similar, which shows that this problem also exists in high-income, upper-middle-income, and lower-middle-income countries. It is estimated that the average amount of food discarded by households around the world is 74 kilograms per person per year.
The UN believes that previous statistical reports have greatly underestimated the scale of consumer food waste. While the data do not allow robust comparisons across time periods, food waste at the consumer level (referring to households and food services) appears to be more than double the previous estimates by the UN Food and Agriculture Organization.
The report was released to support global efforts to achieve UN Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 12.3, which aims to halve global food waste at the retail and consumer levels, as well as in production and supply chains, by 2030. Wrap CEO Marcus Gover told CNN that we have nine years left to reach this goal, and governments, international organizations, and businesses all need to take more radical action.
The researchers say that no one buys food with the intention of throwing it away, and the small amount of food thrown away each day may seem insignificant to many people. This is exactly why raising awareness about food waste is crucial. Government and business actions are equally essential, but individual actions play a very important role.
In 2019, nearly 700 million people worldwide were affected by hunger. With the coronavirus pandemic, that number could soar, leaving 3 billion people unable to afford a healthy diet. The United Nations believes these figures should serve as a wake-up call to consumers around the world and urge them to take action. Meanwhile, countries can also increase their ambition by including food waste action in their climate change commitments (NDCs).
According to the United Nations, the world's population will increase from 7.6 billion to 9.8 billion in 2050. As food production struggles to keep up with the rapid growth of the global population, food waste will increase if measures are not taken. More importantly, let more people understand the seriousness of the food waste problem, and guide the establishment of the awareness of saving food and eliminating waste, starting with oneself and sticking to it.
