The Massive Food Wastage Problem and How Tech Can Help in Minimizing It
The world is facing a food wastage problem. Every year, over 1.3 billion tons of of food is wasted and it's costing the global economy billions of dollars. This has become an increasing problem.
The Menace of Food Wastage
Waste not, want not, goes an old saying. However, humankind doesn't seem to have learned much from it, and consequently, continues to pay for its wanton wastefulness with a massive number of people still struggling to find two square meals a day.
The 2021 Food Waste Index released by the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) estimates that 931 million tonnes of food are wasted every year worldwide. Out of that, households generate 569 tonnes. Foodservice and retail sectors produce 244 million tonnes and 118 million tonnes respectively.
The US is among the countries that waste food the most. Each person in the US discards about a pound of food every day. According to the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), this amounted to 103 million tonnes of food waste produced in America in 2018. The United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) had noted that between 30 and 40% of the food supply in America goes to waste.
Nonprofit organization Feeding America points out that over $218 billion is wasted annually as a result of food being discarded by consumers in America. Dairy products are squandered the most. An average family of four in the US typically throws out $1,600 worth of food every year.
Food waste invariably finds its way into landfills. According to the EPA, food makes up 22% of the country's municipal solid waste and is the single largest component of rubbish that ends up in incinerators and landfills.
US restaurants are notorious for wasting food. About 30 billion pounds of food is believed to be discarded by US restaurants every year. A 2014 survey by the Food Waste Reduction Alliance found that around 85% of food that remains unsold in American restaurants is thrown away. The annual expenditures associated with wasted food in the restaurant business are estimated to be $162 billion.
This wastage of food looks more unacceptable when you consider the sheer number of people that don't have food security. Today, nearly 700 million people across the world are still battling hunger, while three billion have no access to a healthy diet. Despite the US being widely considered to be the epitome of human advancement, according to a 2020 study by Feeding America, over 54 million Americans, including 18 million children, have no food security.
