Food waste: What can we do about it?

Food waste is generated all along the food supply chain, from the stages of production to consumption. Currently, there is no common definition of food waste and it can be measured in many different ways. According to the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), food waste can be defined as: “the decrease in the quantity or quality of food resulting from decisions and actions by retailers, food service providers and consumers”.

By applying this interpretation, FAO estimated in its “Global Food Losses and Waste. Extent, Causes and Prevention” (FAO, 2011) that food waste and loss amount to one-third of all food produced for human consumption, which results to about 1.3 billion tonnes per year. This fact has enormous environmental, economic and social implications, as it represents an enormous waste of resources, such as land, water, energy, soil, seeds and many other inputs required in its production. Alone, food waste generates 11% of all greenhouse gases.

Similarly, recent estimates in the EU, claim that around 20% of the total food produced is lost or wasted. According to the report “Estimates of European food waste levels” (FUSION, 2016), households generate more than half of the total food waste in the EU (47 million tonnes). 70% of food waste occurring in the EU arises at household, foodservice and retail level.

This means that each one of us must take action to reduce food waste and start adopting a more ecological and conscientious lifestyle. We do not have to completely change our whole life to do so. Just some simple gestures and more careful planning when shopping for grocery would do the trick!

Take action and learn more about food waste prevention!

You can immediately start reducing food waste by looking at EGGS project website. EGGS is a project developing in the framework of Erasmus+ programme and it aims to increase the sense of initiative and the entrepreneurial spirit of students by teaching them how to reduce food and water waste.

The project is developing an online serious game, thanks to which students and everyone who wishes to play can learn how to reduce food waste and have a more positive impact on the world!

Have a look at http://eggs-project.com/ and follow the project on Facebook https://www.facebook.com/EGGSErasmusProject/