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Humanity’s penchant to waste food is trashing the planet
The next time you pour expired milk down the drain or throw away wilted vegetables, consider how this waste could have been avoided. A new report from the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) finds the world is in the grip of an epidemic of food wastage. In 2019, consumers tossed away nearly a billion tonnes of food or 17 per cent of all the fare they bought.
That is deeply problematic in a world where 690 million people were undernourished in 2019, a number expected to rise sharply with COVID-19. It’s also bad for the planet. 8-10 per cent of all greenhouse gas emissions come from producing food that is ultimately thrown away.
True scale of global food waste remains unclear
Food wastage is back on the table with the publication of the UN s first global index on the issue. However, gaps in the data show how hard it remains to fully understand the problem.
Imperfect food often ends up in the trash
According to a global food waste index released on Thursday, some 931 million tons of food waste were generated across the world in 2019. The report, published by the UN Environment Programme (UNEP), and UK charity WRAP, equates that to 17% of all food available to consumers.
At 61%, the majority was created in households. The retail and food service sectors performed better, generating 13% and 26% respectively.