Tuesday, Jun 3

Dear Reader,

The figures are staggering. Worldwide, almost 40% of food is wasted. Environmentalist Katherine Hayhoe tells us that, when food decays, it produces methane, a powerful heat-trapping gas. If worldwide food waste were its own country, it would be the third biggest emitter on the planet!

What’s more, while almost two billion people go hungry annually, enough food is wasted elsewhere to provide each of them at least one additional meal daily. 

The reasons for food waste range from the infuriating (we in wealthier nations like our food to look perfect and refuse to eat it one minute past its “best before” date) to the devastating (in poorer countries, food often spoils before it gets to market or onto people’s plates, sometimes due to a lack of refrigeration or poor transportation). 

But good news, food waste haters! Solutions exist, such as a sticker that, according to Hayhoe, “releases natural antimicrobial vapours to keep fruit and vegetables from spoiling for weeks.” There’s also packaging that gives produce a longer shelf life, and people have developed initiatives that rescue “ugly” (but no less delicious) food. 

ReFed, which Bluedot wrote about here, has some simple and impactful tips:

• Get to know the truth about expiration dates, and store food properly.

• Consider portion sizes, and use leftovers creatively. 

• Donate unused food. 

• Consider apps that offer unused restaurant food or unwanted produce. 

And let’s take a page out of Korea’s book. Responding to citizen demand (there’s a lesson there, too!), the country has managed to create a curbside composting system resulting in almost zero food waste. Bluedot’s South Korean correspondent Chazu Lee tells us how. 

Wastelessly,

Dot