Food Waste Index Report 2024

Source: PIB
GS II: Issues relating to poverty and hunger

Overview

1. Need for The index
2. About the Food Waste Index Report 2024

Why in the News?

Examines effective approaches to reducing food waste globally, with a spotlight on public-private partnerships in this 2024 report.

Need for The index

• Assessing food waste allows countries to understand the scale of the issue, highlighting opportunities for improvement and establishing a baseline for progress tracking SDG 12.3.
• The Food Waste Index Report 2021 was a crucial step in comprehending global food waste in retail, food service, and households.
• It uncovered more data on food waste than anticipated, particularly at the household level, and showed that household food waste per capita was more consistent worldwide than previously thought.
• The Food Waste Index Report 2024 builds on its predecessor in three key ways
  • Firstly, it includes a broader range of global data, resulting in stronger estimates.
  • Secondly, it expands on the methodology introduced in the 2021 report, providing enhanced guidance across sectors.
    • This includes discussions on various methodologies, their pros and cons, and strategies for prioritizing measurement in sub-sectors.
  • Finally, the report goes beyond measuring food waste to explore solutions for its reduction.

About the Food Waste Index Report 2024

• It is a study jointly authored by the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) and WRAP (Waste and Resources Action Programme), a U.K.-based non-profit.
• It tracks the global and national generation of food and inedible parts wasted at the retail and consumer (household and food service) levels.

Key Facts in the Report

• The report defines “food waste” as the removal of both edible and inedible parts from the human food supply chain.
• “Food loss” is described as the quantities of crop and livestock products exiting the post-harvest/slaughter production/supply chain up to, but not including, the retail level.
• It is highlighted that in 2022, approximately 1.05 billion tonnes of food waste were generated, inclusive of inedible parts. This equates to 132 kilograms per capita, representing nearly one-fifth of all food available to consumers.
• Several low- and middle-income countries still lack sufficient systems to monitor progress toward achieving Sustainable Development Goal 12.3, which aims to halve food waste by 2030.
• Currently, only four G-20 countries (Australia, Japan, U.K., U.S.) and the European Union possess suitable food waste estimates for monitoring progress.
• Warmer climates tend to produce more food waste per capita in households, potentially due to increased consumption of fresh foods containing significant inedible portions and a lack of robust cold chain infrastructure.
• In comparison to urban areas, rural regions typically exhibit lower levels of food wastage, attributed to a greater tendency to divert food scraps to pets, livestock, and home composting.
• As of 2022, merely 21 countries had integrated food loss and/or waste reduction into their climate plans or Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs).

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