Food Waste: Its Hidden Costs and Why Action Matters

Food waste, or food loss, refers to food that is discarded or unused, whether during production, processing, retail, or in our homes. By the end of this, you’ll gain a deeper understanding of the severity of this issue and feel motivated to take action.

The Scope of Food Waste

Food loss and waste are now estimated to exceed 2.5 billion tones, which account for nearly 40% of all food produced, surpassing the commonly cited 33%.

The United States leads the world in food waste, discarding nearly 60 million tons, or 120 billion pounds, of food annually.

What about Canada? It’s estimated that 58% of all food in the country is wasted, based on administrative data and input from stakeholders in the agri-food system.

Why Is Food Waste Such a Big Deal?

At first glance, throwing away food might not seem like a big deal. After all, it’s just food, right? Unfortunately, the problem goes much deeper than that. Let’s take a closer look at the multiple impacts of food waste:

1.Environmental Impact

When food is thrown away, it doesn’t just disappear. Most of it ends up in landfills, where it decomposes and releases methane — a greenhouse gas that’s far more potent than carbon dioxide.

According to the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), food waste is responsible for around 8% of global greenhouse gas emissions. If food waste were a country, it would rank as the third largest emitter of greenhouse gases globally, after the US and China. Isn’t it surprising?

2.Economic Cost

In addition to its environmental cost, food waste represents a massive economic loss. Around the world, about a third of food intended for human consumption is lost or wasted, resulting in $940 billion in economic losses annually, while one in nine people remain undernourished.

In the United States, food waste is estimated at between 30-40 percent of the food supply. This estimate, based on figures from USDA’s Economic Research Service of 31 percent food loss at the retail and consumer levels, corresponded to approximately 133 billion pounds and $161 billion worth of food in 2010. 

3.Social Impact

While we’re throwing away billions of dollars’ worth of food, millions of people around the world are going hungry. According to the data from the FAO, Between 691 and 783 million people faced hunger in 2022. A significant amount of food could have been provided to these individuals, but they are unable to access it and are at risk of dying from starvation.

How Can We Reduce Food Waste?

The good news is that reducing food waste is something we can all contribute to. Whether you’re an individual consumer, a business, or a policymaker, there are steps we can take to tackle this issue. Here are some actionable ideas to get started:

Understand the Reality and Fundamental Actions

We can start with basic efforts to reduce food waste. We already know the facts, and we can embrace the reality that a significant amount of food is wasted. To take action, we can plan our food purchases better and shop smarter. Avoid impulse buying and be mindful of portion sizes when cooking. Even when we take great care with our food, we sometimes forget about the expiration dates. It happens. But we can reduce the impact by reducing food through composting. There are a lot of ways to reduce the impact on the environment.

In Mauritius, a country in Africa, the food waste per capita in 2024 is only 8.97kg while it’s 75.99kg in Canada. Of course, there are also many children and adults in Canada who don’t have enough food. The waste in Canada is 8 times that of Mauritius. So, we can and should find ways to reduce food waste. Even if it is difficult to eliminate all food waste, don’t you think it would be possible to reduce it like by 10% or 20%?

Encouraging Others

Moreover, we can take action alongside others. Many organizations, including non-government and non-profit groups, are working to reduce food loss. We can support them, contributing to a cleaner world.

1. Encourage Policy Changes

On a larger scale, we need government policies that incentivize businesses and consumers to reduce waste.

For example, British Columbia’s Climate Leadership Plan has established a goal to reduce food waste by 30% by the year 2050.

Or the Pacific Coast Collaborative (PCC) – a network of jurisdictions along the western coast of North America– has committed to a regional target of reducing food waste by 50% by 2030. British Columbia, including Vancouver is involved! The 2019 federal budget allocated resources for a new initiative to reduce food loss and waste in Canada. This included a $20 million fund for a Food Waste Reduction Challenge to foster innovative solutions for reducing food loss and waste in the food processing, grocery retail, and food service sectors.

2. Encouraging companies

We can support companies that are taking action. For instance, ReFeed Farms diverted 4.5 million kilograms of unsellable produce from landfills, with 2.8 million kilograms used as livestock feed, 1.36 million kilograms used for soil, and 346,000 kilograms donated to local food charities.

Other Shape of Helping Environmental Conservations

We can address climate change and social issues by reducing and reusing food waste. However, there are limits to what we can achieve, both at the individual and societal levels. But don’t worry – there are many other ways to contribute to a better world, including through carbon credits. We can help you get involved or collaborate with you on carbon credits. All we need to do is take small steps together.