Irish binning foodatrateof 110kg a head – UN report
IRISH households and cafes are dumping food at a rate of more than 100kg per person every year in careless practices that are adding to an international food waste crisis.
A UN report found 17pc of all food produced worldwide goes uneaten – twice as much as previously thought.
That means pointless use of energy and other resources in growing, processing, packaging, chilling, transportation and disposal.
The squandered energy is responsible for up to 10pc of global greenhouse gas emissions and it increases food costs, making matters worse for billions of people who go
hungry or exist on inadequate diets every year.
The research was carried out by the UN Environment Programme (UNEP), which is monitoring progress on the commitment made by UN members in 2015 to halve food waste by 2030.
Lack of reliable data, however, is hampering the exercise. UNEP scrutinised 54 countries and found only 14 had food waste data considered accurate with a high level of confidence.
Ireland was given a medium rating, with figures showing 55kg of food dumped per head of population by households every year and 56kg per head thrown out by restaurants.
No data was available for food discarded by Irish shops.
Worldwide, UNEP estimates 931m tonnes of food waste was generated in 2019, with 61pc from households, 26pc from food service and 13pc from retail.
This is happening while 690 million people suffer hunger and three billion can’t afford to eat a healthy diet – numbers expected to rise because of the impact of Covid.
UNEP executive director Inger Andersen said the negative effects of food waste made action crucial.
“Reducing food waste would cut greenhouse gas emissions, slow the destruction of nature through land conversion and pollution, enhance the availability of food and reduce hunger and save money at a time of global recession,” Ms Andersen said.
“If we want to get serious about tackling climate change, nature and biodiversity loss, and pollution and waste, businesses, governments and citizens around the world have to do their part.”
Ireland’s Waste Action Plan, launched late last year, backs the commitment to halve food waste by 2030.
Research by the Environmental Protection Agency’s Stop Food Waste initiative found bread was the number one food product dumped by Irish households. It offers tips and advice for consumers to help prevent such waste.
Meanwhile, the Food Cloud and other food bank initiatives are working with shops to redistribute unsold food to people in need before it goes out of date.
The Department of Agriculture and Food has recently invited applications to the Rural Innovation Development Fund for projects aimed at tackling food waste.