The Food Waste Problem
Food waste refers to any edible food that is discarded or thrown away. It includes both cooked and raw food that becomes unsuitable for human consumption or is no longer desired. Food waste occurs in households, restaurants, grocery stores, farms, hospitals and schools.
Food waste is a significant global issue with far reaching environmental, economic and social impacts. When food is wasted it not only represents a loss of resources used in its production, it also contributes to greenhouse gas emissions. When food waste decomposes in landfill, it releases methane, a potent greenhouse gas.
If food waste were a country, it would be the third largest producer of greenhouse gasses. Globally one billion tonnes of food produced for human consumption is wasted each year. This wastage costs the global economy around US$940 billion, consumes nearly a quarter of all the water used in agriculture, and produces eight per cent of global greenhouse emissions (Champions 12.3, 2017).
Food waste in australia
In Australia, we have a productive and profitable food and agribusiness industry that produces enough food to feed around 60 million people (FIAL, 2017).
Each year the overall cost to the Australian economy for food waste is AUD$36.6 billion. This is approximately AUD$2500 per house hold, per year!
17.5 million tonnes of CO2-equivalent is generated annually from the production and disposal of food that is wasted in Australia (FIAL, 2021).
The amount of land used to grow wasted food is in excess of 25 million hectares, a landmass larger than the state of Victoria.
It is incredibly unfortunate that whilst there is more than enough food to feed the current population in Australia twice over, we are misusing and under utilising the resources that we have. According to a Foodbank (2019) report, five million Australians are at times unable to purchase food.
A solution
A national target has been set to halve food waste by 2030, to achieve this challenge, we must begin to take action at an individual level. The current state of affairs indicates that innovation leads to policy change, so therefore, we as inhabitants of this incredible island must begin to take responsibility at the point of waste creation.
By taking ownership of our actions we can begin to influence positive change amongst our peers, demanding more from each other and prioritise using the most of the resources we have available to us.
In the Food Waste Education section, Green For You aims to increase awareness on the food waste problem by providing information, solutions and ways in which we can all help on an individual level.