Thursday, November 15, 2012

What a waste

A third of the world’s entire food supply could be saved by reducing waste – or enough to feed 3 billion people; and this would still leave enough surplus for countries to provide their populations with 130 per cent of their nutritional requirements.

Some estimates say around 1.3 billion tonnes of all the food produced in the world is wasted, lost or discarded—representing losses in water, damage to precious soils needed to grow the crops in the first place; pointless clearing of forests for farming and a waste of energy in fertiliser production and transportation alongside unnecessary emissions of greenhouse gases.

In developed countries such as those in Europe or the United States much of the waste—estimated in a report by the Food and Agricultural Organization of the UN at 95-115 kg per person—is happening in places like households, restaurants and supermarkets. In Australia it is estimated that food waste makes up half of that country’s landfill.

In poorer countries, losses are occurring as a result of pests in storage, inefficient supply chains and power outages. In Africa, the total amount of fish lost through discards, post-harvest loss and spoilage may be around 30 per cent of landings. Food losses in the field between planting and harvesting could be as high as 20-40 per cent of the potential harvest in developing countries due to factors such as pests and pathogens. In Niger an estimated 60% of the national onion crop, or some 3,000 tonnes a year, can be lost.

The irrigation water used globally to grow food that is wasted would be enough for the domestic needs (at 200 litres per person per day) of 9 billion people (the number expected on the planet by 2050)

10% of developed countries’ greenhouse gas emissions come from growing food that is never eaten.

8.3 million hectares of land required to produce just the meat and dairy products wasted in UK homes and in US homes, shops and restaurants--that is 7 times the amount of Amazon rainforest cleared in Brazil in one year, largely for cattle grazing and soy production to export for livestock feed.

It takes 1,000 litres of water to grow the food to feed a cow to produce a litre of milk—many litres of milk are poured away in many countries because consumers are unsure if it is off.

Today, over one third of the world’s cereals are being used as animal feed, rising to 50% by 2050. Continuing to feed cereals to growing numbers of livestock will aggravate poverty and environmental degradation.

Throwing away an apple is equivalent to throwing the water away of seven flushed toilets.

From here

1 comment:

Unknown said...

These discussion and views are really helpful for the removal of waste food to animals so that it won't waste.These help to clear waste and also help animals for their survival.

Waste clearance london