Eating is both a highly social and personal part of our lives, and food preferences can even make for lively dinner table conversations.
In North America we tend to focus on how food is grown and harvested. Consumers face a myriad of labels when they shop for food — organic, free range, cage-free, Marine Stewardship Council, fair trade, non-GMO, vegetarian-fed and locally grown among them.
From a sustainability point of view, though, the most important question is missing from these labels: will this food be eaten or will it contribute to the world’s growing food-waste problem?
We need to tackle food waste at all levels, from international campaigns to individual consumption habits. Grocery stores in France and other countries are offering discounts for misshapen produce under an “ugly fruits and vegetables” campaign.
In September, the UN agreed to an ambitious global goal of reducing food waste by 50 per cent by 2030 as both an environmental and humanitarian imperative. Earlier this year, Metro Vancouver joined the international effort Love Food Hate Waste to meet municipal waste goals and encourage individual behavioural change. A similar U.K. campaign led to a 21 per cent cut in food waste over five years. Businesses are using audits to map out where food waste is affecting bottom lines.
We’re hearing more and more about food waste lately. Every year a staggering one-third — 1.3 billion tonnes — of the world’s food is wasted after it has been harvested: 45 per cent of fruit and vegetables, 35 per cent of fish and seafood, 30 per cent of cereals, 20 per cent of dairy products and 20 per cent of meat. Food waste ends up in landfills, increasing methane emissions and contributing significantly to climate change. A recent study found Americans waste close to $200 billion on uneaten food while Canadians throw away $31 billion.
These figures only account for 29 per cent of the full cost of waste. They don’t include factors such as labour, fuel to transport goods to global markets, inefficiency losses from feed choices used to produce meat and fish or food left unharvested. As methodologies are improved and accounting becomes more inclusive, we’re likely to find even higher waste figures. Dozens of studies across many countries with different methodologies not only confirm the increase in food waste but suggest food waste is even higher and on the rise. In Canada, food waste cost estimates increased from $27 billion to $31 billion between 2010 and 2014.
Every morsel of food wasted represents unnecessary greenhouse gas emissions, conversion of natural ecosystems to agricultural lands and disruptions to marine food webs. Based on 2007 data, the UN estimates that the equivalent of 3.3 gigatonnes of carbon dioxide emissions globally can be attributed to food waste. Canada’s total emissions, in comparison, are about 0.7 gigatonnes.
Food waste is a crime against the planet and the life it supports. Reducing it not only addresses food insecurity, it benefits everyone. Moving forward, whether you’re vegan, vegetarian, carnivore, locavore or pescetarian, plan for a zero-food-waste meal. Show thanks for ecosystems, growers and harvesters by buying only what you will eat and eating all that you buy.
