The recent news that restaurants in Southern China will be fined if they allow diners to over-order or fail to suggest taking leftovers home is a novel take on trying to reduce food waste. With the advent of fast food chains and super-sized portions, China throws away an estimated $32 billion of food each year. In the UK, the figure is lower, though by no means insignificant at £12 billion. Meanwhile, 128 million people in China live below the poverty line, and often lack sufficient food, and it is estimated that 18% of the UK population now live in food poverty.
Global agricultural supplies are being more and more stretched by demand and changing dietary preference. With food banks overstretched and many people struggling to make ends meet, reducing food waste is crucial and will only bring benefits in the long term. Climate change will also impact on the future availability of arable land and water supplies. As the CEO of Tesco recently stated, food prices are only going to increase. Some goods such as cocoa and meat could become relative luxuries within the next twenty years, with prices as much as trebling.
UK supermarket Sainsbury’s recently announced that it now diverts all waste from landfill, partly through donating leftover food to vulnerable people. In France, supermarkets will soon be permitted to leave food and drink items on shelves for longer, and a new food label will be introduced recommending that products should be ‘preferably’ consumed before a certain date.
Where food waste can’t be avoided, we can try to use it productively. Anaerobic digestion, for example, turns food waste into electricity and fertiliser rather than sending it to landfill, where it generates methane. In the US, it is estimated that the energy used in food production, processing and storage equates to approximately 2 percent of the country’s annual energy consumption. Yet the UK green energy firm Ecotricity estimates that if the 18 million tonnes of food waste in the UK was turned into green energy, it could power around 700,000 homes.
The UK Government’s food strategy, Food 2030, includes tackling food waste as one of its six priorities. However, more clearly needs to be invested in the necessary infrastructure so that food can be collected by local authorities and used to generate energy. Maybe this could become part of the energy mix of the future. It’s far less controversial than fracking and has a less harmful impact on the environment. A win-win all around.
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