On 14 December 2022, the United Nations General Assembly adopted a resolution at its seventy-seventh session to proclaim 30 March as International Day of Zero Waste, to be observed annually.
For this year’s International Day of Zero Waste, observed on 30 March, the focus was on food – what we eat, what we waste, and how we can move towards a more circular future.
The world wastes food on a staggering scale. The UN states on its website that every year we throw away about 1 billion tons of edible food, nearly one-fifth of all food available to consumers, impacting both people and the environment.
Around 60% of food waste happens at the household level. The rest comes mostly from food service and retail, the result of inefficient food systems – including production, distribution and consumption. Tackling this issue requires redesigning these systems, transitioning towards a more sustainable, circular approach grounded in efficiency, resilience and sustainability, the UN states.
For this transition to succeed, everyone has a role to play. The UN lists a few actionable points.
Governments can:
*Advance food waste prevention through climate and biodiversity plans and national policies on circularity, waste, food systems, agriculture and urban development and promote measurement and monitoring.
*Strengthen public–private partnerships.
*Signal leadership and take action by joining the Food Waste Breakthrough.
Businesses can:
*Set measurable food waste reduction targets and integrate them into existing sustainability commitments.
*Innovate to transition to circular food systems and improve efficiency across supply chains.
*Join the Food Waste Breakthrough to scale solutions and share progress.
Consumers can:
*Plan, buy, store and prepare food mindfully to cut waste and save resources.
*Support food recovery, redistribution and composting initiatives.
*Help make food waste socially unacceptable through everyday action.
A zero-waste future is possible when we all work together – do your part by consuming thoughtfully, recovering surplus food, and working to build circular food systems. Let’s ensure our food is valued, not wasted.
(Courtesy UN website)
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An English-language food and beverage processing and packaging industry B2B platform in print and web, IndiFoodBev is in its third year of publication. It is said that the Indian food and beverage industries represent approximately US$ 900 billion in revenues which implies more than 20% of the country’s GDP. Eliminating the wastage on the farmside can help to deliver more protein to a higher number of the population apart from generating sizable exports. The savings in soil, seeds, water, fertilizer, energy and ultimately food and nutrition could be the most immense contribution that country is poised to make to the moderation of climate change.
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Naresh Khanna – 10 February 2025
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