The Food Waste Index Report 2024, namely, Think Eat Save, tracking progress to halve global food waste, was released on March 27, 2024. This study was jointly done by the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) and Waste and Resources Action Programme (WRAP), a UK-based non-profit organisation. The objective of this report is to attain the Sustainable Development Goal 12.3 and country-level progress to halve food waste by 2030.
SDG 12.3 has a key role to play in the delivery of other SDGs, including those around Zero Hunger (SDG 2), Sustainable Cities (SDG 11), and Climate Action (SDG 13). Target 16 of the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework specifically calls out for halving global food waste by 2030, after recognising the connection between food waste and biodiversity loss.
For this purpose, the UNEP has been tracking the food waste through this report since 2021. This report is based on the data collected in 2022. It offers an update on the amount of food wasted globally and builds upon more recent and larger datasets. The report also focuses on multi-stakeholder collaboration as a solution through public-private partnership.
This report was released ahead of the International Day of Zero Waste (March 30).
Significance of the Report
Understanding the amount of food waste is essential to take necessary actions on reducing this wastage. Measuring food waste would establish a baseline against which progress may be evaluated. It would help nations to comprehend the scope of the issue, and consequently, the size of the opportunity. A key turning point in the global understanding of food waste in the retail, food service, and household sectors was reached with the help of the 2021 Report. It showed that food waste data was more widely available than anticipated, especially at the household level, and that the amount of food waste generated per capita in households was more globally comparable than it was previously understood.
For the purposes of the Food Waste Index, ‘food waste’ has been defined as “food and the associated inedible parts removed from the human food supply chain in the following three sectors: retail, food service and households”. As a result, the estimates include both ‘edible’ and ‘inedible’ parts of food. The UNEP is in charge of maintaining the Food Waste Index, which tracks food waste that happens worldwide in households, food services and retail settings. On the other hand, ‘food loss’ is defined as “all the crop and livestock human-edible commodity quantities that, directly or indirectly, completely exit the post-harvest/slaughter production/supply chain … up to, and excluding, the retail level”. The UN’s Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) is in charge of maintaining Food Loss Index.
Key Takeaways from the Report
According to the report, out of the total food wasted in 2022, i.e., 1.05 billion tonnes, 19 per cent or one-fifth of food available to consumers, 60 per cent happened at the household level; food services were responsible for 28 per cent; and retail, 12 per cent. This is on top of the 13 per cent of the global food that was lost in the supply chain, post-harvest through but excluding retail, according to estimates from the FAO.
Food waste is a market failure that leads to an annual waste of food worth more than one trillion US dollars. It is also a failing of the environment, since food waste (loss and waste combined) is projected to account for 8-10 per cent of greenhouse gas emissions worldwide. It occupies the equivalent of 30 per cent of the world’s agricultural land. Consequently, up to 783 million people suffer from hunger annually. Furthermore, a chronic deficiency of vital nutrients in their diets causes stunted growth in over 150 million under-five children, globally.
There has been a substantial increase in data availability and coverage in the household sector in this report, with 194 datapoints across 93 countries (up from 52 countries in the 2021 Report), particularly, with a notable growth in the coverage of low-and middle-income group countries. Approximately 85 per cent of the world’s population lives in countries where household food waste is at least somewhat documented; so, there is more authenticity in the 2024 Index.
Globally, household food waste accounted for 631 million tonnes, or 60 per cent (maximum) of the total food lost in 2022, followed by the food service sector with 290 million tonnes and the retail sector with 131 million tonnes, globally.
Reducing food waste would provide compounding benefits. Eight to 10 per cent of the world’s GHG emissions comes from food loss and waste (about five times more than the total emissions from the aviation industry combined). This is happening when one-third of the world’s population has been experiencing food insecurity and 783 million people go hungry.
At least one billion meals a day are wasted by the households amounting to an average of 79 kilograms of food being wasted by an individual annually. Using a very conservative estimate of the share of food waste that is edible, households globally wasted the equivalent of at least one billion meals of edible food every day, i.e., 1.3 meals per day for every person affected by hunger, the world over.
Food waste is not a problem unique to rich countries. The household per capita food waste generation is broadly similar across country income groups. The observed average amounts of household food waste in high-income, upper-middle-income, and the lower-middle-income nations vary by just seven kilograms per capita per year.
Hotter nations seem to have higher rates of food loss or food waste in households per person probably due to increased consumption of fresh foods with substantial inedible parts and lack of robust cold chain. Higher seasonal temperatures, intense heat waves, and dry spells complicate the safe storage, processing, transportation, and retailing of food.
The population of middle-income countries varies between urban and rural areas, with rural areas often wasting less. This may be because of increased rerouting of food waste to pets, animal feed, etc. Food waste is also used as home composting in rural areas. The report recommends on focusing efforts to strengthen food waste reduction and circularity in cities.
This report indicates that only four G20 nations (Australia, Japan, the UK, and the USA) and the European Union have food waste estimates suitable for tracking progress to 2030. Countries such as the UK and Japan have reduced their food waste by 18 per cent and 31 per cent, respectively. Two other G20 nations—Canada and Saudi Arabia—have estimates for households that are appropriate. The estimate from Brazil is anticipated in late 2024.
In order to achieve SDG 12.3, G20 nations could play a leading role in international cooperation and policy development. They could also share their expertise with nations which are just beginning to address this issue and use their significant influence on global consumer trends for raising awareness and educating people about food waste at home. The G20 nations ought to use their economic and political clout to reduce food waste significantly. This has to begin with an accurate measurement and reporting through the food waste index.
Global average of household waste is equivalent to one billion meals of edible food every day, even if all the food wasted in those households contained only 25 per cent edible parts. This is a very conservative estimate. It is lower than any of the observed rates of edibility from countries where it has been measured. The actual amount may be significantly greater and this is probably only a minimal estimate.
Especially in low-and middle-income countries, data for the retail and food service industries are still insufficient. For a more thorough knowledge of worldwide food waste, there are significant data gaps which need to be filled. These unknown amounts could be considerable.
Food waste has been a problem in urban areas. Given that over half of the world’s population is currently concentrated in rural areas, it is expected that local governments need to play a significant role in combating food waste in the years to come. It is important for local governments to prioritise and increase their involvement in solving the food waste problem. National governments that collaborate closely with local governments would guarantee the implementation of policies and the maintenance of efforts to divert food from landfills and put it to useful and sustainable uses.
An increasing number of governmental, regional, and business organisations are supporting public-private partnerships as a means of reducing food waste and mitigating the effects of climate change and water stress. With an emphasis on the Target-Measure-Act methodology, they unite stakeholders together towards a common objective, addressing some of the challenges posed by a fragmented food system and fostering innovation for long-term holistic change.
Use of the Food Waste Index by Nations
The Food Waste Index should be used by nations to assess food waste regularly, provide reliable national baselines, and monitor their progress. Few nations have gathered reliable data on food waste which is necessary to determine the scope of the issue, identify hotspots, and evaluate the effectiveness of the initiatives. Although there are many household studies, only a few were appropriate for monitoring the country’s progress towards SDG 12.3. The retail and food service sectors still have inadequate data coverage on food waste.
As of 2022, only 21 countries—including Cabo Verde or Cape Verde, China, Namibia, Sierra Leone, and the UAE—had incorporated food loss and/or waste reduction in their NDC (Nationally Determined Contribution). Food loss and waste integration would offer a significant chance for increasing climate ambition in the 2025 NDC revision process. Integrating comprehensive measures to tackle food waste within the National Biodiversity Strategies and Action Plans (NBSAPs) is another opportunity for fostering sustainable development. This would help fulfil Target 16 of the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework, which calls for halving global food waste by 2030.
Food waste needs to be addressed on a systematic and individual basis, encompassing targeted efforts in urban region and international collaboration between countries and across supply chains.
Food Waste Index Report 2024 on India
On an average, 55 kilograms per capita per year of all the food available to consumers have been wasted in India. Coincidentally, the amount of food waste produced worldwide in 2022 exceeded India’s entire production of foodgrains, oilseeds, sugarcane, and horticulture products combined in 2022–23.
In comparison to the 2019 data, food waste at household level in India increased from 50 kilograms per capita per year to 55 kilograms per capita per year, in 2022. Per capita per year food waste at household level was the highest in the Maldives at 207 kilograms per capita per year in 2022.
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