International Day of Awareness of Food Loss and Waste 2022

When: 29 September 2022

More info: https://www.stopfoodlosswaste.org/

The International Day of Awareness of Food Loss and Waste (IDAFLW) was observed for the third time on 29 September 2022.  The IDAFLW made a clear call to action for public and private entities, from across the food system, and consumers to work together to cut food loss and waste (FLW) to mitigate climate change, and support food security and nutrition.

Stop Food Waste! For People and Planet!

The food supply chain in many countries is on course to overtake farming and land use as the largest contributor to greenhouse gases (GHGs). Food processing and packaging, together with transport and food waste, are pushing the food supply chain to the top of the list of GHG emitters globally.

GHGs are generated at every step of the food supply system, regardless of whether the food produced is consumed. In particular, food waste rotting in landfills generates methane, a potent greenhouse gas that has 84 times the warming power of carbon dioxide over a 20-year period.

An estimated 14 per cent of the world's food is lost between harvest and retail, and an estimated 17 per cent is wasted in retail and at the consumption level. This comes at a time when 811 million people go hungry. This food loss and waste accounts for 8-10 per cent of global GHGs – contributing to an unstable climate and extreme weather events such as droughts and flooding. These changes negatively impact crop yields, reduce the nutritional quality of crops, cause supply chain disruptions and threaten food security. All of this means there is an urgent need to accelerate action to reduce FLW.

The 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development – specifically SDG 12, target 12.3 – calls for halving per-capita global food waste at the retail and consumer levels and reducing food losses along production and supply chains. 

With eight years left to reach the target, the urgency for scaling up action to reduce FLW cannot be overemphasized. Reducing FLW presents an opportunity for immediate climate benefits while improving the overall sustainability of our food systems – a necessary transformation to ensure better planetary and nutritional outcomes for current and future generations.