Sustainability 101: Food Waste

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.

Food waste that ends up in landfills produces a large amount of methane – a potent greenhouse gas (GHG). It is estimated that 10% of GHG emissions come from food waste. If wasted food were a country, it would be the third-largest producer of carbon dioxide equivalent in the world, after the United States and China.

With agriculture accounting for 70% of water used throughout the world, food waste also represents a great waste of freshwater and groundwater resources. The water used to grow food that is wasted would be enough for the domestic needs of nine billion people, at 200 litres per person per day.

1.4 billion hectares of land, close to 30% of the world’s agricultural land area, (an area greater than China) is used to produce food that is ultimately wasted.

The increased demand for food production has led to more pristine land being required to be converted into agricultural land and pastures for livestock. These deforested areas ultimately impact biodiversity and threaten vulnerable species.

GENeco (UK), a subsidiary of Wessex Water, offers market-leading economic and environmental recycling solution for food waste. The food waste is collected and processed and renewable energy, in the form of electricity and biomethane, is harnessed from the biogas produced in the digestion process, whilst the solid digestate is used as sustainable agricultural biofertiliser.

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.