Global and North American Perspectives on Food Loss and Waste

4 November 2021, Washington, DC – To provide an update on the global progress towards Sustainable Development Goal target 12.3: to halve per capita global food waste at the retail and consumer levels and reduce food losses along production and supply chains; FAO North America convened an online event. The dynamic session highlighted multisector approaches from the global, national, state, and local levels, as well as the private sector. Rachael Jackson, Founder of EatorToss.com, a website aimed at taking the "doubt" out of “when in doubt throw it out,” by educating consumers about food safety, moderated the session 

In her welcoming remarks, Jocelyn Brown Hall, Director, FAO North America, discussed how addressing food loss and waste should be seen as a low-hanging hanging fruit to reduce greenhouse gas emissions while ensuring food security to leaders currently gathering at the UN Climate Change Conference (COP26). “A third of all food that is produced is never consumed, 14 percent is lost in harvesting, handling, storage and transit, and 17 percent is lost at the consumer level,” said Brown Hall.  “When we waste food, we waste energy and the resources to grow the food." 

Taking stock at the global level  

At the global level, Rosa Rolle, Senior Enterprise Development Officer at FAO, and Clementine O’Conner, Programme Management Officer at the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP), detailed their work and framework for measuring the global progress towards SDG target 12.3 and implementing policies at the national level.   

Rosa Rolle discussed the Food Loss Index methodology and guidelines, and how FAO provides training to equip countries to collect the required data. “This data then informs a number of actions to scale up and encourages the development of circular economy practices,” said Rolle. The first estimates of the Food Loss Index were released in the State of Food and Agriculture report (SOFA 2019).  

"In this week of COP 26, we can indeed signal that eight to 10 percent of greenhouse gas emissions are caused by food loss and waste," said Clementine O’Conner who shared that UNEP released the Food Waste Index report earlier this year. The report provides global and country-level food waste estimates based on best available data and shares a common approach for countries to measure and report on food waste under SDG 12.3. "The report finds that nearly a billion tonnes of food was wasted at the retail level in 2019,” said O’Conner. 

U.S. Goal to reduce food loss and waste  

“In addition to SDG target 12.3, the U.S. has its own goal to reduce food loss and waste by 2030,” said Jean Buzby, Food Loss and Waste Liaison at the US Department of Agriculture (USDA). Buzby highlighted tax incentives and liability protection policies to help combat food loss and waste by encouraging donations. She also discussed the federal interagency collaboration between USDA, EPA (Environmental Protection Agency), and FDA (Food and Drug Administration) to tackle the issue collectively and independently, as well as USDA’s collaboration with the private sector through the Food Waste Reduction Alliance (FWRA) and ReFED.  

"One of the things that we're doing with the Environmental Protection Agency is we have a Public-Private Partnership called the US Food Loss and Waste 2030 Champions," said Buzby. The initiative recognizes food businesses as champions if they publicly commit to reducing food loss and waste in their operations by half by 2030.  

Actions at the regional level  

At the State level, Elaine Blatt, Senior Policy Analyst, Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ) in Oregon, noted that the concept of “wasting food is wasting money” is the strongest motivator for consumer action. The municipality of Oregon DEQ has been looking at impacts all through the lifecycle of materials. Blatt discussed how there is a lot of potential when it comes to prevention and shared that 70 percent of the wasted food is food that could have been eaten if it was managed better.  

From the Regional Municipality of York in Ontario, Krissi Baxter, Project Coordinator, Sustainable Waste Management, Environmental Services, discussed how York is transitioning from a linear economy to a circular economy, where the focus is on reduction, prevention, and repair. Baxter also shared the programmes that York has been utilizing to decrease food waste such as the Backyard Composting Programme and the Good Food Programme. 

How the private sector and entrepreneurs are responding 

Melissa Donnelly, Director of Environmental Sustainability at the Campbell Soup Company provided some insight on to how the multinational company is approaching food loss and waste. She discussed how Campbell's was one of the first companies to set a corporate commitment to reduce food waste by 50 percent by 2030 and to report progress and be transparent about the waste that is being generated. 

World Food Day Regional Food Heroes, Monique Chan and Pashon Murray brought unique perspectives on how individuals can go above and beyond to address food loss and waste in their communities. “In North America alone, 168 million tonnes of food loss and waste is generated each year,” said Chan, stating how this was a driving factor for the founding of her company, Bruized, which utilizes imperfect food and saves it from ending up on landfills.  

Pashon Murray shared similar sentiments. “As a result of how we manage our food systems, companies such as mine evolve because I saw how much food waste was going to landfills,” said Murray, the founder of Detroit Dirt, a composting company which she established to tackle a multitude of issues – keeping food out of landfills, carbon sequestration, the importance of soils, and manure management.  

The session concluded with each panelist busting a myth, including that food loss and waste is not an issue only facing high-income countries but affects all countries; plastic packaging can help lengthen the shelf life of fruits and vegetables; and food loss and waste take place at many levels of the food supply chain including at the farm, in restaurants and in our kitchens. Overall, the discussion highlighted actions that are being taken to measure and minimize food loss and waste and emphasized the importance of consumer awareness and behavioral change to appreciate food at each step of the supply chain. 

Additional Resources  

Watch the recording: https://bit.ly/114recording 

Speaker Bios: https://bit.ly/SpeakerBios114 

Twitter Thread: https://twitter.com/FAONorthAmerica/status/1456276980219801614 

Speaker presentations:  

Rosa Rolle, Senior Officer, FAO https://bit.ly/308VwQf  
Clementine O’Connor, Programme Officer, UNEP https://bit.ly/3GYkWRE  
Jean Buzby, Food Loss and Waste Liaison, USDA https://bit.ly/3qpOXE7  
Elaine Blatt, Senior Policy Analyst at the Oregon Department of Environmental Quality https://bit.ly/3D6SdrK   
Krissi Baxter, Project Coordinator, Sustainable Waste Management, Environmental Services, The Regional Municipality of York https://bit.ly/3BT9MtO  
Pashon Murray, Founder, Detroit Dirt https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zC0jw4zefnQ  
Monique Chan, Founder, Bruized https://www.bruized.com/  

Indicator 12.3.1 - Global Food Loss and Waste 
https://www.fao.org/sustainable-development-goals/indicators/1231/en/  
State of Food and Agriculture Moving forward on food loss and waste reduction 2019  
https://www.fao.org/publications/sofa/2019/en/  
UNEP Food Waste Index Report 2021 
https://www.unep.org/resources/report/unep-food-waste-index-report-2021