Reducing
consumer food waste could save between $120 and $300 billion US per year by
2030, claims a new report from the Waste & Resources Action Programme
(WRAP) and the Global Commission on the Economy and Climate, both based in
London, England.
That much
money could be saved simply by reducing food waste by 25 to 50 per cent.
And
refrigeration, alone, could cut food waste In developing nations by 25 per
cent, the report says.
Other
significant gains can be achieved through better packaging.
One third
of all food produced in the world ends up as waste, while the value of global
consumer food waste is more than $400 billion US per year.
“As the
global middle class expands over the course of the decade, the cost could rise
to $600 billion US,” the report says.
It’s
titled “Strategies to achieve
economic and environmental gains by reducing food waste”.
It
identifies significant opportunities to improve economic performance and tackle
climate change by reducing the amount of food that is wasted in agriculture, transport,
storage and consumption.
It has the
twin benefit of reducing greenhouse gas emissions which contribute to global
warming.
