Food Waste – A Global Challenge to Sustainability

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Food Waste – A Global Challenge to Sustainability

Acting on the food wastage, can be considered to be having a significant impact on achieving the sustainability goals and can also be a vital auxiliary measure to counteract the imbalance in the global food availability and distribution. This paper tries to summarize from the available data, the global, the national and the community level food wastage scenarios. With a focus on the food wastage due to ‘over consumption’ as one of the high potential source for reduction and the behavioral aspects and habits as obstacles to the goal of sustainability, describes a study conducted by students in a local community to identify and quantify the avoidable food waste at consumer level and proposes that awareness of sustainable living patterns as a superordinate goal.
Food is a basic need for the survival and it is estimated that the world population is to hit 9 billion by 2050 [1] demanding the enhanced production of this basic commodity by 60 to 70% [2]. An enhancement that will be a further burden on the planetary resources and subsequent rise in the carbon footprints. The Barilla Center for Food and Nutrition in Belgium says climate change will contribute to increasing global food prices within a range of 3-84 percent by 2050 [3], posing a serious threat to food production and security. As per the Food Authority Organization of the United Nations (FAO) presently enough food is being produced globally, however at the same time hunger and food wastage are the two paradoxical dismays to be confronted globally. The average food supply for one person in the world is around 580 kilograms. Of this around 380 kilograms is consumed, 140 kilograms is lost in production and 50 kilograms is wasted by consumers [2]. In other words, one third of the food produced annually meant for human consumption gets lost or wasted [4]. At global level this wastage translates to 1.3 billion tonnes of food wasted per year. According to the World’s Food Aid Foundation, available world-hunger-statistics, about one ninth of the population accounting to 800 million people in the world suffer from starvation. The data indicates that even if one fourth of the current wastage can be saved, it is sufficient to feed 870 million hungry people in the world [5].
In the production of food many resources are required. A country’s food requirement in equivalent resources unit can be roughly converted to 10 percent of the total energy budget, 50 percent of land used, and 80 percent of freshwater consumption. In addition to these fertilizers and pesticides are also used. And on the global front the same can be converted to 70% of planet’s fresh water withdrawals, 80% of the world’s tropical and subtropical deforestation and 30 to 35% of human caused greenhouse gas emissions [6]. It is estimated that with the present level of global food wastage results in about 30% wastage of available agricultural land used. The wasted food amounts also contribute to the releases of greenhouse gas equivalent to 3.3 billion tonnes of carbon dioxide every year. If food waste were a country it would be the third largest producer of greenhouse gases in the world, after China and U.S.

There are not many research/ scholarly publications available on food waste in UAE. However, the available literature on this topic in the form of reports and articles published by newspapers is utilized to comprehend the UAE food waste scenario. According to the 2014 statistics from The National, Massar Solutions and the UN about 3.27 million tonnes of food is wasted every year equivalent to 350 kg per person. In Abu Dhabi, 39 percent of the municipal waste generated (about 400,000 tonnes each year) is leftover food discarded by residents/ households, whereas Dubai Municipality’s estimates nearly 38 percent of food is wasted every day, which goes up to 55 percent during Ramadan. In 2016, the municipality recorded 27 per cent of waste produced in Dubai as organic food, consisting mainly of 88.8 per cent food. Cutting food waste by 15% would have the same impact on carbon dioxide emissions as taking 150,000 cars off the road. According to a survey done in 2012 by YouGov, an international internet-based market research firm, 78 percent of respondents in the UAE admitted that they throw away food each week. Nearly 65 percent believed their food waste had no or little consequence on the environment. 67% believe more awareness and educational campaigns will reduce food wastage.

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Food waste is increasingly a matter of national and international concern. To highlight a few, in the USA, programs such as the Food Waste Reduction Alliance and the Environmental Protection Agency’s Food Recovery Challenge seek to both reduce and recycle food waste and to re-distribute usable but about-to-be-discarded food to those who need it. The French Ministry of Agriculture, Food Industry, and Forestry recently launched a National Pact Against Food Waste, with the goal of reducing food waste in France by 50 percent by 2025. In 2016 France became the first country to ban supermarkets from throwing away unsold food, punishing them with fines of up to €75,000 if they refused to donate it to food banks or charities instead. Great Britain’s “Love Food Hate Waste” program – which aims at establishing a “zero waste economy” – has reduced British food waste by 21 percent over the past five years [1,8]. In July 2016, The Global Green Growth Forum in Copenhagen approved the world’s first food loss and waste standard, which was thrashed out by a committee including the UN Environmental Program (UNEP), the UN Food and Agricultural Organization (UN FAO) and the World Business Council for Sustainable Development, thus resolving – the lack of internationally agreed norms for establishing the shape and nature of the problem. The standard sets criteria for defining, measuring and reporting the food waste problem which can be applied to countries and companies alike. This standard will set a baseline for action and measure how much food is not making it to our mouths [9]. In the United Arab Emirates (UAE), the food waste management policies launched and operative to combat the problem of food wastage are, way back in 2010 the Abu Dhabi Tourism and Cultural Authority (TCA Abu Dhabi) had aimed to reduce the amount of hospitality waste going to landfills by 20% as a first step in its environmental program. Abu Dhabi’s Centre of Waste Management (CWM) implemented an initiative called the NADAFA Program (which means “cleanliness” in Arabic) to monitor and control all waste-related activities for the commercial, industrial, and construction sectors. In the UAE, the Red Crescent Society (RCS) operates the “Hefth Al Ne’ma” program (which means “looking after blessings” in Arabic, 2012) as a result of which the public can call the Society and schedule a free pick up of untouched leftover food [10]. In December 2017, as a part of the outreach initiatives to engage the public, ‘My Environment, My National Responsibility’ exhibition organized by UAE Ministry of Climate Change and Environment (MOCCAE) campaigned on the need to adopt a sustainable lifestyle to preserve the planet for future generations. The authorities also suggested that a community effort across the country is needed to show restraint when cooking up huge food presentations for home guests or customers. Along with the UAE Food Bank Dubai Municipality, is calling for “zero tolerance” towards food waste from consumers and the food industry as a major drive to tackle food waste. To come closer to the goal, the Dubai Municipality has recently teamed up with UK-based Winnow, a startup that provides smart meters in hotels that helps kitchens cut food waste in half by automatically measuring what’s put in the trash bin. The collaboration is under the Dubai Future Accelerators program that allows the private sector to work closely with public entities to co-create breakthrough solutions for the public good. Dubai Municipality will soon launch a facility to recycle organic waste. Waste Management Department at Dubai Municipality, announced fees will apply on landfill gates for waste trucks of the private sector before the end of 2017. Sorted waste and recyclable items can cost up to four times less than mixed wastes [3
Along the food chain process, food is lost or wasted in production, post-harvest, processing, distribution and consumption. Of the total losses about one-third occurs at the consumer level, where the surplus is unwanted and disposed and approximately two-thirds happens at the production and distribution level. In developing countries, the “losses” are unintentional, mostly attributed to the poor infrastructure facilities required. In comparison developed countries, the unintentional losses are low but high levels of “waste” happens at the consumer level, a high percentage of which can be attributed to over consumption or buying habits, unclear expiry labels, forgotten storages and apathetic attitudes of the end user. Food waste isn’t just an economic issue, wasting food also takes its toll on the environment. The food waste is nothing but the waste of land, water, energy, labor and capital resources that are used in the food production. Further safe and efficient disposal of food waste involves transport, labor and efficient disposal through a proper eco-friendly waste management system augments to the acuteness of the problem. The United States Department of Agriculture (USDA), notes that most wasted food is sent directly to the landfill where it is a major producer of methane, a potent greenhouse gas, which is reportedly 25 times more damaging than CO2, that contributes to climate change.
Food waste is increasingly a matter of national and international concern. To highlight a few, in the USA, programs such as the Food Waste Reduction Alliance and the Environmental Protection Agency’s Food Recovery Challenge seek to both reduce and recycle food waste and to re-distribute usable but about-to-be-discarded food to those who need it. The French Ministry of Agriculture, Food Industry, and Forestry recently launched a National Pact Against Food Waste, with the goal of reducing food waste in France by 50 percent by 2025. In 2016 France became the first country to ban supermarkets from throwing away unsold food, punishing them with fines of up to €75,000 if they refused to donate it to food banks or charities instead. Great Britain’s “Love Food Hate Waste” program – which aims at establishing a “zero waste economy” – has reduced British food waste by 21 percent over the past five years [1,8]. In July 2016, The Global Green Growth Forum in Copenhagen approved the world’s first food loss and waste standard, which was thrashed out by a committee including the UN Environmental Program (UNEP), the UN Food and Agricultural Organization (UN FAO) and the World Business Council for Sustainable Development, thus resolving – the lack of internationally agreed norms for establishing the shape and nature of the problem. The standard sets criteria for defining, measuring and reporting the food waste problem which can be applied to countries and companies alike. This standard will set a baseline for action and measure how much food is not making it to our mouths [9]. In the United Arab Emirates (UAE), the food waste management policies launched and operative to combat the problem of food wastage are, way back in 2010 the Abu Dhabi Tourism and Cultural Authority (TCA Abu Dhabi) had aimed to reduce the amount of hospitality waste going to landfills by 20% as a first step in its environmental program. Abu Dhabi’s Centre of Waste Management (CWM) implemented an initiative called the NADAFA Program (which means “cleanliness” in Arabic) to monitor and control all waste-related activities for the commercial, industrial, and construction sectors. In the UAE, the Red Crescent Society (RCS) operates the “Hefth Al Ne’ma” program (which means “looking after blessings” in Arabic, 2012) as a result of which the public can call the Society and schedule a free pick up of untouched leftover food [10]. In December 2017, as a part of the outreach initiatives to engage the public, ‘My Environment, My National Responsibility’ exhibition organized by UAE Ministry of Climate Change and Environment (MOCCAE) campaigned on the need to adopt a sustainable lifestyle to preserve the planet for future generations. The authorities also suggested that a community effort across the country is needed to show restraint when cooking up huge food presentations for home guests or customers. Along with the UAE Food Bank Dubai Municipality, is calling for “zero tolerance” towards food waste from consumers and the food industry as a major drive to tackle food waste. To come closer to the goal, the Dubai Municipality has recently teamed up with UK-based Winnow, a startup that provides smart meters in hotels that helps kitchens cut food waste in half by automatically measuring what’s put in the trash bin. The collaboration is under the Dubai Future Accelerators program that allows the private sector to work closely with public entities to co-create breakthrough solutions for the public good. Dubai Municipality will soon launch a facility to recycle organic waste. Waste Management Department at Dubai Municipality, announced fees will apply on landfill gates for waste trucks of the private sector before the end of 2017. Sorted waste and recyclable items can cost up to four times less than mixed wastes.
The hospitality sector is one of the major contributors of the food waste and may be divided into for-profit and not-for-profit establishments. The not-for-profit subsection would typically consist of establishments such as staff canteen/ company guesthouses, cafeterias at schools and hospitals, etc. In UAE, due to tourism in general and in specific due to the nature of businesses and work rotation, new projects, etc. hospitality industry is always been in the focus and is one of the most intensive food consumers. This study conducted by students focuses on not-for-profit establishments and two such establishments were surveyed to collect the information related to food waste to quantify the wastage. In this paper, the names of the establishment have not been mentioned for confidentiality reasons. Each establishment is identified by an alphanumeric code E5 and E6. E5 is a low occupancy (30-50 guests) and luxury type whereas E6 is a high occupancy (1000-1500 guests) and economy type. Both the establishments use the buffet style of service for all the three meals in a day. The operation of this establishment is outsourced to a catering company which works on not-for-profit basis The survey methodology included interviewing the managerial staff and collection of information related to the quantities of food prepared, consumed and wasted for all the three meals served on daily basis viz., breakfast, lunch and dinner over a period of 2 months. The interviews conducted with the representatives of the establishments and the catering company covered the strategies being used on estimating the daily preparation quantities per meal and the waste minimization techniques followed. The questions also covered knowledge and awareness of the staff on minimizing the food waste, related local regulations, food waste disposal methods and any campaigns and signage that encourage guests to be conscious of food waste. Food served is classified into critical and non-critical food. Critical food is the cooked food and displayed on buffet table at or above 53oC and the non-critical food stored below or at room temperature. The waste generated in the food preparation stage is considered as ‘unavoidable’ whereas the waste generated in the serving stage that includes left out edible quantities in the serving dishes and on plates is considered as ‘avoidable’ waste. The waste quantities obtained from both the establishments represented cooked food waste (i.e. un-consumed food left in the buffet serving dishes and leftovers in the guest plates). Also the number of guests served per day was collected in order to calculate the per capita food waste generation rates. The quantity of the food prepared and the quantity of avoidable food waste produced (waste from serving dishes and plate waste) per meal was physically measured during the study period. The quantity of unavoidable food waste generated during the food preparation stage was not quantified.
Food is a basic need for the survival and production of food requires utilization of copious amounts, hence depletion of natural resources. Considering the socio, moral, environmental and economic impacts of the food wastage, minimizing food waste is one of the global challenges for sustainability. Food is wasted at various stages of its life cycle from field to mouth due to various reasons. Food waste happening at the end of the food chain is avoidable. Specific to the intentional food waste, many regulations and policies are being enacted across the globe including UAE that are mainly focused on the food wastage at the retailer end. However, at the consumer end avoidable food waste reduction can be achieved mostly through personal habitual changes. It is the moral responsibility of every food consumer while satisfying the dietary requirements to conscientiously live a sustainable consumption lifestyle. From the case study, results indicate that the food waste at consumer level (avoidable) in the surveyed establishments is in the range 8-10% whichis in line with the global average. Still there is scope for further reduction. Though there is a good awareness among the staff to minimize the food waste and various techniques are in place however the support from the consumers is essential to achieve the common goal of ‘zero food waste’. This can be achieved by a blend of regulations and campaigns – implementing more stringent regulations including compliance, monitoring and infrastructure and campaigns at consumer level to bring in awareness and promote self-discipline. Know more