February 5, a date that all lovers of the environment and zero waste should mark on their calendars. This is the National Food Waste Prevention Day , a day established to combat food waste that is still uncontrolled in the world, especially in Western countries.
Food waste is due to silly and toxic reasons: often food is thrown away when still edible only to meet high standards as regards the aesthetic aspect, due to errors in reporting expiration dates by producers, due to production due to lack of adequate infrastructure for food storage.
National Food Waste Prevention Day is a day dedicated to the prevention of food waste created precisely to prevent these not at all virtuous and dangerous behaviors from being perpetrated, causing huge losses of money and precious resources.
Also this year, it will be a very important moment to take stock of the state of health of our planet and the numbers of food waste in the world.
What is the impact of food waste on the world?
Food waste is dangerous to the economy. Producing food requires a lot of investment, including buying land, harvesting and processing produce. When food is wasted, all these investments are also wasted.
A recent research by Coldiretti gives us a dramatic picture of food waste: in Italy, every year, we throw away more than 9 billion euros of food that could still be consumed in the trash . This data refers only to household food waste, therefore perpetrated by subjects who do not work with food.
If we add its production costs to the actual value of the food, the figure rises to 15 billion. According to the International Waste Watcher, Osservatorio Spreco Zero, the average Italian throws away more than half a kilogram (675 grams) of food a week .
Doing the math, all this waste costs each household about 360 euros a year, which is less than 7 euros a week. However, in Italy, more than 2.6 million people still have difficulty eating regular meals due to rising prices and bills, and 5.6 million people (9.4% of the population) fall into poverty .
However, awareness of waste reduction is increasing significantly for economic, ethical and environmental reasons. Thanks to social networks, practices such as zero wasting have spread, the recovery of food scraps such as peels, seeds, parts usually not consumed, to generate snacks or compost for plants.
Furthermore, realities such as Too Good To Go were born to allow businesses, such as supermarkets, restaurants, pastry shops, etc. to sell the unsold products of the day at ridiculous prices, fighting food waste.
We at H24invest are also very attentive to the issue of food waste and offer innovative products to reduce it. Try our Memo Food Clips , special pegs for closing food packages. What is special about them? They are connected to a handy app on your smartphone, which will help you keep track of the opening and expiration dates of your food, allowing you to finish it before it goes bad in the pantry.
Find out more about our Clips and help us eliminate food waste.
Which countries waste the most food in the world?
Although National Food Waste Prevention Day is an American initiative, the United States is one of the least virtuous countries in the world when it comes to food waste. Along with the USA, there are also the UK, Germany and Japan.
These countries are characterized by high consumption of packaged food and inefficient food production and distribution practices, leading to the waste of large quantities of food.
However, food waste is a global problem affecting all countries, both developed and developing. According to estimates by the United Nations, around 1.3 billion tons of food are wasted in the world every year . This represents a huge waste of food resources and a huge economic loss, especially considering that millions of people are still going hungry today, in 2023.
National Food Waste Prevention Day is an important time to reflect on this topic. During this day, many organizations and activist groups organize events and activities to promote awareness of the issue of food waste and provide information on sustainable practices to prevent it.
The purpose of this day is to raise awareness of the negative impact of food waste on the environment, society and the economy, and to encourage people to do their part to reduce it . Through education and awareness, we hope to achieve a future where food is used more efficiently and sustainably to feed people and protect the environment.