Over the last decade, food waste has become a critical and widely recognised problem around the world. Around one-third of food produced is thrown away entirely uneaten, causing a massive and unnecessary burden on the environment. The UN Environment Programme’s (UNEP) Food Waste Index Report 2021 showed that approximately 931 million tonnes of food were wasted in 2019. With the existing trend in consumption, the number is expected to increase even further as populations expand and urbanisation grows.
If only one-fourth of food that is currently lost or wasted worldwide could be saved, it would be enough to feed the world’s 870 million hungry people.
Not only is the issue of food waste an ethical one, but similarly the environmental impacts of producing food that is then discarded can no longer be overlooked.
How You Can Contribute
To reduce our ‘foodprint’, we all can start to take action in our homes, by thinking about how we buy, prepare, and dispose of food. From there, we can identify ways to reduce the food we send to landfills. A small change can make a big difference in reducing food waste.