Food Waste Costs Billions. Here’s How to Stop It.

Stats: 

• 1/3 of all agricultural land produces food that is lost during the production or consumption phase (1.3 billion metric tons of edible food)
• industrialized countries lose $680 billion in lost/wasted food
• developing countries lose $310 billion in lost/wasted food

Governments Tackling Food Waste:

The U.S. Government announced the Food Waste Reduction Alliance to formalize a collaboration between a federal agency, food manufacturers and the restaurant association = to reduce food waste 50% by 2030.

Vatican City hosted a summit on reducing food waste.

The Causes:

• poor climatic conditions which reduce farm capacity 
• improperly stored food
• eating habits

The Solutions:

• personal changes like decreasing portion size, eating misshapen fruits and vegetables, and not fully stocking pantries
• rethinking expiration dates set by companies rather than health agencies 
• local governments can compost and sell the more productive soil to farmers
• better refrigeration in developing countries

TIME | We Are Wasting a Massive Amount of Food. Here Are 4 Concrete Ways to Change That