Food waste solutions may be approaching a tipping point, indicating that large reductions in food loss and waste are conceivable.
Food systems stakeholders are beginning to recognize the value in food that now goes to waste, according to Pete Pearson, Senior Director of Food Loss and Waste for WWF.
“There is a Nirvana moment,” Pearson says Food Tank, “where we start to grasp that garbage truly has value and may have profitability tied to it.”
According to a recent WWF analysis, 2.5 billion tonnes of food, or 40% of all food produced, goes uneaten each year.
This accounts for around 10% of worldwide greenhouse gas emissions.
However, tackling food loss and waste on this scale necessitates precise data, which farmers and food corporations are not always willing to provide.
He feels that garbage education should be included in school curricula.
To learn more about finding value in waste streams, why discarded meat and seafood have such enormous environmental footprints, and the technologies helping businesses minimize food waste, listen to the entire talk with Pete Pearson on “Food Talk with Dani Nierenberg.”