FOOD WASTE FACTS
A THIRD of the world’s entire food supply could be saved by reducing waste – or enough to feed 3 billion people; and this would still leave enough surplus for countries to provide their populations with 130 per cent of their nutritional requirements. Tristram Stuart 2009, Waste: Uncovering the Global Food Scandal
IN PERHAPS the most landmark study on international food waste, the UN Food and Agriculture Organisation claims that “roughly one-third of the edible parts of food produced for human consumption, gets lost or wasted globally, which is about 1.3 billion ton per year.” FAO 2011, Global Food Losses and Food Waste
ESTIMATES OF global food waste have been as high as 30 or 50 per cent. While food waste estimates are based on what has variously been described as “based on a weak evidence base” and “inadequate and dated” “there is little doubt that the scale is substantial”. The Government Office for Science 2011, Foresight: The Future of Food and Farming
THE FAO estimates that every year, the production of food that is wasted generates “3.3 billion tonnes of greenhouse gases” and uses up to “1.4 billion hectares of land – 28 per cent of the world’s agricultural area”. Moreover, “globally, the blue water footprint for the agricultural production of total food waste in 2007 is about 250km3, which is more than 38 times the blue water footprint of USA households. FAO 2013, Food Wastage Footprint: Impacts on Natural Resources
IF WASTAGE levels by consumers of around a quarter of all food is representative – as found by WRAP’s study in the UK and by the Department of Agriculture in the US – this would suggest that 10 per cent of all greenhouse gas emissions in these countries comes from producing, transporting, storing and preparing food that is never eaten. Tristram Stuart 2009, Waste: Uncovering the Global Food Scandal
IN THE United Kingdom households waste around 22 per cent of all the food they buy – but the good news is that there has been a 21 per cent reduction since 2007! WRAP 2012, Household Food and Drink Waste in the United Kingdom
4600 KILOCALORIES per day of food are harvested for every person on the planet; of these, only around 2000 on average are eaten – more than half of it is lost on the way. Tristram Stuart 2009, Waste: Uncovering the Global Food Scandal
FRUIT AND VEGETABLE WASTE FACTS
SINCE the launch of Feeding the 5000’s campaign on wonky vegetables, vegetables that would have been wasted in the past have become the fastest growing sector of the fresh produce market. From 2012-13 the relaxation of cosmetic standards saved 300,000 tonnes of produce from being wasted on UK farms. BBC 2012
AN ESTIMATED 20 to 40 per cent of UK fruit and vegetables are rejected even before they reach the shops – mostly because they do not match the supermarkets’ excessively strict cosmetic standards. Tristram Stuart 2009, Waste: Uncovering the Global Food Scandal
FISH WASTE FACTS
2.3 MILLION tonnes of fish is discarded in the North Atlantic and the North Sea each year; 40 to 60 per cent of all fish caught in Europe is discarded – either because they are the wrong size, species, or because of the ill-governed European quota system. Tristram Stuart 2009, Waste: Uncovering the Global Food Scandal