United Nations Tweeted About Benefits Of Reducing Food Waste

For many people in the world, food waste has become a habit: buying more food than we need at markets, letting fruits and vegetables spoil at home or taking larger portions than we can eat. These habits put extra strain on our natural resources and damage our environment. When we waste food, we waste the labour, effort, investment and precious resources that go into producing it, not to mention the resources that go into transporting and processing it. In short, wasting food increases greenhouse gas emissions and contributes to climate change. Between harvest and retail alone, around 14 percent of all food produced globally is lost. Huge quantities of food are also wasted in retail or at the consumer level.

Reducing food loss and waste is essential in a world where millions of people go hungry every day. When we reduce waste, we respect that food is not a given for the millions of people who go hungry every day. Food loss and waste undermine the sustainability of our food systems. When food is lost or wasted, all the resources that were used to produce this food – including water, land, energy, labor, and capital – go to waste. In addition, the disposal of food loss and waste in landfills, leads to greenhouse gas emissions, contributing to climate change. Food loss and waste can also negatively impact food security and food availability, and contribute to increasing the cost of food.

Benefits Of Reducing Food Waste:

• Helps To Address Food Security
• Protect Our Planet’s Resources
• Becomes A More Conscious Consumer
• Reduce Our Carbon Footprint
• Save Money And Energy

Our food systems cannot be resilient if they are not sustainable. Hence the need to focus on the adoption of integrated approaches designed to reduce food loss and waste. Actions are required globally and locally to maximize the use of the food we produce. The introduction of technologies, innovative solutions new ways of working, and good practices to manage food quality and reduce food loss and waste are key to implementing this transformative change.

Here Are Some Easy Actions We Can Take To Reconnect To Food:

• Adopt a healthier and sustainable lifestyle.
• Pick-up rotten or ugly fruits and vegetables.
• Only buy what we need.
• Store food wisely.
• Understand food labelling.
• Take smaller portions and keep the leftovers for later.
• Respect the food and use less water.
• Support local food producers.
• Eat more pulses and vegetables.

Over To You:
We make a lot of difference in the food cycle. It’s up to us to change our habits and make ‘not wasting food’ a way of life!