CELEBRATING INTERNATIONAL DAY OF AWARENESS OF FOOD LOSS AND WASTE

On September 29, International Day of Awareness of Food Loss and Waste purpose is to raise awareness to the importance of the problem and possible solutions.

While promoting the global efforts and collective action towards meeting the Sustainable Development Goal Target 12.3, which plans, to halve per capita food waste at the retail and consumer level by 2030 and, reduce food losses along the food production and supply chain (FAO, 2021). 

10 FACTS ABOUT FOOD LOSS AND WASTE

FACT 1 - 1/3 of all food produced globally goes to waste. Ref

FACT 2 - The annual value of food wasted globally is $1 trillion and weighs 1.3 billion tonnes. Ref

FACT 3 - If food waste were a country it would be the 3rd largest greenhouse gas emitter, behind China and the USA. Ref

FACT 4 - In the UK households, food waste is worth £700 to the average UK family, which collectively totals to £14 billion per year. Ref/Ref

FACT 5 - If 25% of all food that is currently being loss or wasted globally was saved, it would be enough to feed 870 million people around the world. Ref

FACT 6 - 25% of global fresh water is used to grow produce that is never eaten. Ref

FACT 7 - 70% of food waste in the UK occurs in households. Ref

FACT 8 - 14% of world's food is loss after harvesting and before reaching retail through on-farm activities, storage and transportation. Ref

FACT 9 - £870,000,000 of food wasted each year by retail food industry. Ref

FACT 10 - 50 million tonnes of fresh fruit and vegetables grown in Europe every year are discarded based on being the wrong size, colour and misshaped. Ref

Lastly, have a read of the Waste Less Food and The Environmental Impact of Food Waste blogs to understand better why food loss/waste is an important issue that needs tackling by implementing these simple 7 Top Tips to Waste Less Food in your day-to-day lives to help improve our environment.