Worldwide, humans waste one of every three food calories produced. These wasted calories are enough to feed three billion people—10 times the population of the United States, more than twice that of China, and more than three times the total number of malnourished globally.

There is a difference between food loss and food waste:

  • Food loss is the decrease in the quantity or quality of food resulting from decisions and actions by food suppliers in the chain, excluding retailers, food service providers and consumers. Some amount of food is lost at nearly every stage of food production.
  • Food waste is a specific piece of food loss, which the USDA (US Department of Agriculture) defines as “food discarded by retailers due to color or appearance and plate waste by consumers.”

Food waste includes the half-eaten meal left on the plate at a restaurant, food scraps from preparing a meal at home and the sour milk a family pours down the drain.

Edible food is discarded at every point along the food chain: on farms and fishing boats, during processing and distribution, and in restaurants.

Food is lost or wasted for a variety of reasons: bad weather, processing problems, overproduction and unstable markets cause food loss long before it arrives in a grocery store, while overbuying, poor planning and confusion over labels and safety contribute to food waste at stores and in homes.

Food waste is really bad for the environment. It represents about 8% of global greenhouse gas emissions, and it is a main contributor to deforestation and the depletion of global water sources. Between 33-50% of all food produced globally is never eaten, and the value of this wasted food is worth over $1 trillion.

Not only all the resources that went into creating the uneaten food are wasted, but also when food waste goes to landfill, it decomposes without access to oxygen and creates methane, which is 23x more deadly than carbon dioxide.

Meanwhile 800 million people go to bed hungry every night. That is 1 in 9 people on the planet who are starving or malnourished. Each and every one of them could be sufficiently fed on less than a quarter of the food that is wasted in the USA, UK and Europe each year.

In 2011, FAO (The Food and Agriculture Organization) presented the estimate of food loss and wasted and, since then, much has changed in the global perception of the problem.

In fact, the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development reflects the increased global awareness of the problem.

What can we do?

In the ‘developed’ world, more than 50% of food waste takes place in our homes.

In contrast, less than 2% of food waste takes place at the retail store level.

So, the bad news is we are half the problem. But the good news is… this means we can be half the solution!

There are several easy tips to reduce food waste. So before grocery shopping, you can make a plan or a list. In this way, you will not pick up random items that may go to waste and you’ll buy only what you need.

You should not buy more than you can eat and, if possible, you should avoid big monthly shopping trips and only buy ingredients for a few days.

When creating your menu plan, use a system like “First In, First Out”, so you can think about which ingredients spoil quickly and use them first. You can also keep your kitchen stocked with staple ingredients.

Additionally, if you go to a restaurant and you do not finish your meal, ask for a doggie bag and bring it home. Eating leftovers can save time, effort and serious cash if you can eat them for lunch instead of ordering out.

Furthermore, learn to store food properly to keep it fresh as long as possible, but try to don’t toss it before it spoils. The easiest preservation method is the freezer, and it works with most foods to reduce food waste. You can freeze bananas, hard cheese, vegetables, bread, yogurt, milk, herbs and lots more.

Finally, whatever you do, feed edible food to other people or keep it out of the landfill. Whether you collect food scraps to bring to a composting center or compost at home, composting transforms waste into a valuable soil additive.

Everyone has a part to play in reducing food loss and waste. Less food loss and waste would lead to more efficient land use and better water resource management with positive impacts on climate change and livelihoods.

For many people on the planet, food is a given. But for the staggering more than 820 million people who are hungry, food is not a guarantee.