Food Waste is a massive, yet solvable problem

29 June 2018, Washington, DC – FAO North America and the Danish Embassy co-hosted a screening of the movie “Wasted! The Story of Food Waste” together with the directors and Emmy Award winners Anna Chai and Nari Kye. The film outlines the problem and travels around the world to prove how accessible and satisfying solutions to food waste can be. The screening was followed by a panel discussion with thought leaders about concrete solutions to reducing food waste, and government policies that can help push forward this agenda in a North American as well as a global context.

H.E. Lars G. Lose, Ambassador of Denmark to the United States, emphasized Denmark’s international leadership role in finding solutions to tackle food loss and waste.

Vimlendra Sharan, Director of FAO North America, highlighted that food loss and waste are lost opportunities to feed the world, and put unacceptably high economic, environmental and social costs on our planet. Even if just one-fourth of the food currently lost or wasted globally could be saved, it would be enough to feed all hungry people in the world. Furthermore, food loss and waste emits 8% of global greenhouse gas emissions, making Food loss and waste reduction a global priority for climate change mitigation.

Selected clips of the movie “Wasted! The Story of Food Waste” were screened which showcased practical solutions along the food recovery pyramid, ranging from reducing food loss at the source level, feeding people in need, feeding livestock, to composting and using food waste for renewable energy. The movie directors and Emmy Award winners Anna Chai and Nari Kye explained that “when we delved into the topic of food waste, we were shocked about the extent of the problem. Food waste is one of the most pressing challenges of our generation, and in Wasted! we tried to focus on all the solutions which already exist around the globe.”

The screening was followed by a panel discussion featuring Elise Golan (Director for Sustainable Development, USDA), Kai Robertson (Lead Advisor on Food Loss and Waste at the World Resource Institute), Jonathan Bloom (Journalist) and Patrick Bultema (CEO at FoodMaven), which was moderated by Politico’s Liz Crampton.

Elise Golan (USDA) stressed that it is impossible to have a sustainable food system with so much food waste, and that USDA, EPA and other government agencies are therefore setting goals to reduce food waste, measure where food waste happens, and set priorities along the food recovery pyramid. United States Secretary of Agriculture Sonny Perdue has set food loss and waste as key issue and priority for his administration. She also presented a fruit bar made of ugly fruits and vegetables as one solution, and encouraged participants to test USDA’s FoodKeeper App.

Kai Robertson (WRI) emphasized the importance of measuring food waste, as “what gets measured gets managed”, and presented the Champions 12.3 coalition. She also made the business case for food loss and waste reduction by emphasizing that companies see a 14:1 return on investment.

Author and journalist Jonathan Bloom emphasized that it is key to teach children the value of food via high-quality and well-funded school feeding programs, school gardens, field trips to farms, and teaching them how to cook. He also highlighted that if food waste and loss is tackled, it is not necessary to increase production to feed a growing world population by 2050.

Patrick Bultema (Food Maven) emphasized that drivers of food waste in the current food system are the consumer expectation to have everything all the time, the obsession with appearances, and that local growers often don’t have access to the bigger food system due to oversupply, and need to destroy large parts of their produce.  Food Maven was founded to tackle these issues, as the company sells local and oversupplied food from distributors, manufacturers and producers to restaurants and institutions at almost half price.

The panel concluded that solutions are readily available, that it is key to educate children, and that partnerships are central to tackle food loss and waste as one of the most pressing social, economic and environmental problem.

Amy Bachman, Director of Procurement and Sustainability at DC Central Kitchen, explained that the organization recovers food from all parts of the food system from farms to retailers to feed people. They also have a training program in culinary arts and supported the Danish Embassy chef in preparing a dinner reducing food waste.

Read more on FAO's work to reduce food loss and waste, and join the Save Food initiative!