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If ignored, food waste is a major cause of the climate crisis, according to the UN Environment Program (UNEP), but various tools are already being used to address this threat, from black soldier flies to empowering waste pickers around the world.
Kitchen table woes
Food waste includes everything from unfinished food to spoiled crops (i.e. food that is lost after harvest and before it reaches the warehouse).
However, the most polluting form of kitchen table waste is rotten food that ends up in landfills.
When organic materials such as uneaten food are buried in landfills and lack oxygen, they interact with microorganisms to produce methane.
Encourages methane emissions
Greenhouse gases, currently responsible for nearly a third of global warming, are highly polluting. It traps 86 times more heat than carbon dioxide over a 20-year period, the UN warns.
Importantly, this rotting food is one of the main causes of methane emissions worldwide.
In the United States, for example, municipal landfills are the third largest source of methane emissions produced by human activities.
Food loss and waste is a major threat to the climate and environment.
‘Mountains’ of discarded food
This problem cannot be separated from the large amount of food waste that is continuously generated throughout the world.
Every day, more than a billion meals go uneaten according to a UNEP reportwith 60 percent of this “mountain of food thrown away” coming from households.
This means that the resources used to produce this uneaten food are also wasted. Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (F.A.O) estimates that 1.4 billion hectares land, or about 28 percent of the world’s agricultural land, is used to produce food that is never eaten, while water used to grow crops and prepare food is also wasted.
Since agricultural expansion is still the main root of deforestation, food waste also contributes to the cutting down of trees that can no longer remove carbon dioxide from the atmosphere.
‘We have to move faster’
At the same time, methane, which is produced by rotting food waste, is short-lived: this gas breaks down much faster in the atmosphere than carbon dioxide.
This means that reducing methane emissions now could produce climate benefits in the coming decades.
“At a time when the world is looking for practical ways to slow rapid warming, tackling food waste may be one of the most immediate and cost-effective climate solutions,” stressed Martin Krause, UNEP official.
However, FAO warned that despite international commitments, there has been no real progress in reducing food loss since 2015, and the world is still far from achieving the Sustainable Development Goal target of halving global food waste per capita by 2030.
“We have to move faster,” stressed Mr. Krause from UNEP.
Scavengers and black soldier flies
In addition to cleaning your dishes, effective methane gas reduction tools are also being implemented around the world.
Eleven governments in Africa have committed to reducing methane emissions by incorporating waste pickers into formal waste management systems, and training them on how to sort and compost organic waste. With funding from the Climate and Clean Air Coalition established by UNEP, these initiatives have improved the livelihoods of waste pickers, increased awareness of waste segregation, and encouraged the creation of community composting sites.
As an alternative to composting, black soldier flies bred by special facilities around the world are used to recycle organic materials. From Malawi to Uganda, these beneficial insects have become part of the waste management systems in an increasing number of villages and towns.
