Clean your plates – to reduce food loss and waste

In fact, throwing away lunch leftovers or wilted lettuce will only add to the pile of rotting food waste in landfills, releasing methane, a powerful greenhouse gas. That is, too accounts for around eight to 10 percent of global emissions.

This includes spoiled crops – food that is lost after harvest and before it even reaches the warehouse.

One billion meals are wasted

Every day, more than a billion meals go uneaten, either due to excess food production, spoilage, or poor food planning, according to the UN Environment Program (UNEP).

This issue was highlighted in tit International Day Awareness of Food Loss and Waste, observed on 29 September – hosted by UNEP and the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (F.A.O).

This year, the focus is on links to forest protection and ensuring sustainable agri-food systems.

“Using the food we already produce more efficiently can reduce pressure on land and forests and help feed more people,” said Michael Muratha, Project Manager and Knowledge Specialist at UNEP, speaking from his headquarters in Nairobi.

Additionally, having healthy forests also supports food production in several ways, including by protecting soil and regulating rainfall.

Cool comfort

UNEP highlights how taking action can reduce losses by encouraging measures such as investing in better food handling, storage and transportation.

Mr. Muratha emphasized that point strengthening sustainable cold chain systems for perishable foods also important.

“In Kenya, a cooperative of 179 farmers near Nairobi lost up to 40 percent of its crop after harvest before receiving sustainable refrigerated storage and transport equipment,” he said.

Better storage can also help farmers overcome climate impacts, such as droughts, floods and periods of food scarcity, while reducing the loss of nutritious food in a world where 2.6 billion people cannot afford to eat a healthy diet rich in fruit and vegetables.

“That’s why it’s so important to take these steps to conserve and preserve and reduce food loss,” he said.

UNEP also supports efforts to divert excess safe food to people who need it, such as children in child care centers in underserved communities.

Innovation at all levels

The agency goes on to showcase innovative ways – from simple to sophisticated – to prevent food from ending up in landfills.

“Innovation can help at various points where food is lost or wasted, and it doesn’t always have to be high-tech.,” insisted Mr. Muratha.

He gives the example of Favela Orgânica, a project in Brazil that teaches communities, street vendors and chefs to use ingredients that are often thrown away such as banana peels and broccoli stems.

“AI is also promisinghe added. “In a UNEP-supported initiative involving 13 hotels, AI tools helped measure food waste and adjust purchasing and preparation, reducing post-consumer breakfast waste by 62 percent in four months.”

Last year, UNEP and its partners launched Food Waste Breakthrough initiative at the UN COP31 climate change conference in Brazil with the goal of halving food waste by 2030, reducing methane emissions and supporting climate action.

Muratha said that taking action could help reduce the $1 trillion global loss annually due to food loss and waste, while every dollar invested in prevention could save cities $8 and households $84.

“For communities, this means more food reaching people and greater resilience when harvests, prices or supply chains are disruptedhe said.

“This will not end hunger by itself, but it is an important part of building a safer and more sustainable food system.”