Roughly 30-40% of total food production in the world is lost before it reaches the market. In the EU alone, annual food waste is estimated to account for 143 billion euros worth of food (with over half of EU food waste coming from households). Meanwhile, up to 10% of global greenhouse gas emissions are estimated to be associated with unconsumed food.
So, what do our readers think? We had comments sent in on food waste from Franz, Carlos, Enzo and Vytautas. To get a response, we put them to one of the Vice-Chairs of the European Parliament Committee on the Environment, Public Health and Food Safety: Dutch MEP Anja Hazekamp, from the Party for the Animals (which sits with The Left in the European Parliament – GUE/NGL). You can see her responses in the video above.
How can we get people to stop wasting so much food? Would people throw out less food if it was more expensive? How can we teach children the value of the food we eat? Let us know your thoughts and comments in the form below and we’ll take them to policymakers and experts for their reactions!
IMAGE CREDITS: Photo by Marek Studzinski on Unsplash
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– Consumers must become less critical on uniformity, colour, form etc of vegetables, fruits, bread etc.
– Too much choice and availability in the market of industrial composed perishables.
– (Very) rich persons will continue to spoil food even when more expensive
– meat tax, sugar tax, reduction of food to be used for energy winning will calm down the routine and give a chance to healthy and ecological compatible ways of producing consumer food and agricultural products.
– buy local, eat local, in the first place.
– stop lobbies for production volume and focus on quality and avoiding ecological damage and destruction everywhere.
– tax on intercontinental delivered food for life stock production.
– stop long term transports of living animals destinated for food production.
– reducing availablity of snacks everywhere in public places without any responsable references.
– Sorting waste collected at home, reducing waste tax on invoices for sorted waste, increasing unsorted waste. (Collectif or individual)
– composting organic waste
– water: compost toilets without waste of drinking water quality.
– At school, education growing vegetables plants and sowing and observing reports; preparing meals with them with integrated anti waste solutions per receipt or product.
– Abolition of intensif diary industries / bio industries.
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In eu, only buy what you need & use all you buy.
In “3rd world”, invest in logistics & storage.
I’m a bit confused. How is the percentage of food wasted “before it reaches the market” connected with the link’s “How can we get PEOPLE to stop wasting so much food”? To my understanding, “people” come into play only after “market”.
EU money waste is far worse
It seems that China has imposed a punitive tax for food waste in the restaurant. Would it be possible to impose also a new tax to punish and reward to speed up food reaching the market?
Starve all
‘Holup. Some years ago the EU made an unpopular legislation, that classified kitchen scraps as toxic waste. ( With some twisted logic and consideration of unlikely worst case sceranios.) Before that thrown out food could be given as feed to farm animals, and the EU forbade that. So just revert that stipulation and it’s done.
It may be in directives EC 852/2004 and 1069/2009. Granted, mad cow disease was a problem that sprung from adding beef scraps to cow feed, but that can be avoided.
those publications and the underlying good-sense question, make me worry.
In poorer countries, its down to lack of refrigeration and inadequate logistics….in richer countries its more about wastage by consumers…..the former can be addressed by allowing competition…the latter by better education & be self-regulating with higher prices….
By a worldwide awareness campaign in all social medias for a prolonged time until it will get through everybody mind setting.
When the social and commercial medias are all tools of election campaigns, this suggestion is equal to advice politicians to terminate their career.
We could use it to make fuel for ethanol cars 😉
Food waste is due to the capitalist profit-making without a human face. The monopoly of food production by advanced capitalist economies tend to destroy food in good harvest and to discourage production by creating chaotic situation and sending misleading and even fake information to cause panicking so as to boost food price and stock-piling.
More fresh foods, a more variety of pachage in grams, kg. A request to sort waist food from the other type of waist, so it can be used as natural fertilizer later.