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"Over the last seven years, I started to think better before buying food, taking home only the amount that I or the people I cook for will consume," says Turkish writer and content creator Ceren Özkan.
Since 2019, she has adopted a zero-waste lifestyle, which means reducing everything she throws away to a minimum — and food plays an important role in that.
"Moving house can be challenging, because it takes time to establish a new routine. Illness or vacation trips can also disrupt things, but the practice has become a natural part of my daily life," he says.
The world wastes more than 1 billion tons of food per year, according to a 2024 report by the United Nations Environment Program (UNEP). At the same time, 645 million people face hunger.
For the first time, zero waste — including food waste — will be in evidence at the UN climate summit, COP31, taking place this month in Antalya, Turkey.
Credit, Ceren Özkan/Personal collection
Özkan considers the attention given to the topic to be positive, but remains skeptical.
“I would love to be proven wrong, but awareness needs to be accompanied by action and accountability.”
Their concerns reflect a broader challenge. So far, only 30 countries have included food loss and/or waste in their national climate action plans.
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"We hope that this political momentum around preventing and reducing food waste will help many more countries to incorporate the issue into their national climate strategies," says Clementine O'Connor, who coordinates UNEP's work on urban food systems and food waste.
How much food does each person waste?
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According to the UN, each person wastes, on average, 79 kg of food per year at home. This equates to at least 1 billion meals wasted every day around the world.
In Brazil, it is estimated that each person wastes 77 kg of food per year, according to the same institution. The calculation is based on a study carried out in Rio de Janeiro.
Conducted in 2023, the research followed 102 households in the capital of Rio de Janeiro, of which 86 actively participated, in all regions of the municipality. The study found that food waste represented 62% of the total mass of household waste.
Homes are, therefore, the main source of the problem, responsible for 60% of waste. Next come food services, such as restaurants and school cafeterias, which account for 28%, and retail, responsible for 12%.
While food waste occurs in the retail, restaurant and residential stages, food loss refers to what is discarded in the earlier stages of the supply chain, between harvesting and reaching the market.
“The United States is among the countries that generate the most food waste,” says Liz Goodwin, senior researcher at the World Resources Institute (WRI).
"Some Middle Eastern countries also waste a lot of food, which is equally surprising given that they import much of what they consume."
Goodwin, however, points out that it is difficult to compare countries accurately due to a lack of reliable data.
One of the most surprising findings from UNEP's research is how household food waste remains at similar levels in different countries.
"There was a previous narrative that food waste was a problem in high-income countries, while food loss was an issue in low-income countries. But the data shows that this is not the case," says O'Connor. "It's a global problem."
Long work hours or family care responsibilities: Many of the factors that lead to food waste are surprisingly similar around the world, she says.
However, in warmer countries, limited access to refrigeration and cold storage can cause food to spoil more quickly.
Why is food waste so harmful to the planet?
According to the UN, food loss and waste are responsible for 8% to 10% of global greenhouse gas emissions.
Therefore, halving global food waste by 2030 is one of the goals of the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).
When food decomposes in landfills in the absence of oxygen, it produces methane, a potent greenhouse gas.
It is “84 times more potent than CO₂ over a 20-year period,” says O’Connor. Therefore, reducing food waste could have a "very rapid impact" on efforts to combat climate change.
Food production also requires enormous amounts of land and water, as well as energy and other resources. When food is wasted, these resources are also wasted, contributing to the loss of biodiversity.
Additionally, reducing food loss and waste can increase the available supply, which tends to lower prices and make food more affordable, O'Connor says.
How to reduce food waste at home?
Climate change can sometimes seem like an impossible problem to tackle, says O'Connor. But this is an area where people can make a concrete difference.
Project Drawdown, an American nonprofit dedicated to scientific solutions to combat climate change, points to reducing food loss and waste as the number one climate action we can take, she says.
Goodwin says small changes to everyday habits can help. Making a shopping list is a good start, as is understanding the difference between the labels "best before" and "best before".
The expression "best before" is related to the quality, not the safety of the food. After this date, the product may lose some of its flavor or texture, but, in general, it remains suitable for consumption.
"Many people simply throw away products that are past their 'best before' expiration date. It's a shame," says Goodwin.
Credit, Roman Mykhalchuk/Getty Images
Sustainability advocates from different parts of the world share their own tips for reducing food waste at home.
Charlotte Brum Bezié, a zero-waste influencer in Mexico City, recommends using artificial intelligence to calculate exactly how much food you need for each meal throughout the week.
To get a real sense of waste, she suggests marking everything that was consumed on the invoice and then calculating how much money was spent on food that ended up in the trash. It may be "heart-wrenching," she says, but the method always works.
Rahaf Allymoni, creator of a coffee alternative made from date seeds, suggests reserving a shelf in the refrigerator for older foods and consuming them before buying new ones.
"If you have a lot of vegetables and feel like they're about to go bad, put them all in the blender and make a delicious sauce."
Dharath Hoonchamlong, co-founder of a sustainability-focused bar in Bangkok, avoids following "rigid recipes" and prefers to adapt dishes to the ingredients he has available.
Özkan says he freezes vegetable peels and then boils them in water. "When it gets cold, I use the water to water my plants and compost the remaining peels."
Which countries are advancing?
Japan is the only country assessed by UNEP that has achieved the UN target of halving food waste in households and throughout the supply chain, including the business sector, says O'Connor.
She attributes this advance to a combination of public awareness campaigns, data disclosure requirements by companies, and collaboration between the public and private sectors.
Credit, Noriko Hayashi/Bloomberg via Getty Images
The UK has also reduced food waste by 22%, largely by bringing together companies from different stages of the food supply chain to identify where losses occur and work together to reduce them.
The initiative was later adopted by countries such as South Africa, Indonesia, Mexico and Brazil. However, despite advances in some areas, the world is far from reaching the global goal.
“There is no way we can halve food waste by 2030,” says Goodwin.
She says that companies have made more progress than governments, and that many large companies in the food sector have already set goals and implemented programs to reduce waste.
However, he assesses that governments need to do more to encourage companies to measure and disclose their food waste rates. This, he believes, would help stimulate competition and promote improvements.
Experts say combating food waste requires action across the global food system, but each person can also make a difference through their choices at home.
"Ultimately, it's up to us whether we throw something away or not," says Goodwin.
*With additional reporting by Pedro Martins, from BBC News Brasil
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