Food waste is a huge, global problem
Almost one-third of the food produced worldwide is lost or wasted every year (costing 2.6 trillion USD annually) and 61% of this waste occurs within households. Green and digital technologies offer innovation solutions to this problem. Examples are emerging in solar-powered cold storage, active packaging, smart labelling, and urban farming. To fully unlock technology’s potential to tackle food waste, UNEP is supporting an integrated approach that connects data, policy, infrastructure, information, and consumer behavior. Cities like Bangkok, Doha, Kampala, Belgrade, and Bogota are already piloting innovation approaches to drive the change.
Here you'll find the project’s full report, videos and infographic etc.
Furthermore, you can download a one-page summary here.
Country support in using technologies to reduce food waste at consumer level
It also contributed to the attainment of the SDGs and in Building Back Better from the COVID-19 pandemic. The project aims to contribute to SDG target 12.3 (halving food waste), SDG 2 (Zero Hunger), SDG 8 (Decent Work and Economic Growth), SDG 9 (Industry, Innovation and Infrastructure), SDG 12 (Sustainable Consumption and Production), SDG 13 (Climate Action) and SDG 17 (Partnerships). This project brings together different knowledge groups of UNEP for an integrated approach across Economic and Trade Policy, Food and Food Waste, Consumer Information, Sustainable Lifestyles, and the International Resource Panel (IRP). This is combined with case studies of 5 cities in 5 regions, including:
- Case Study Bangkok (Thailand), led by Regional Office Asia and the Pacific
- Case Study Kampala (Uganda), led by Regional Office Africa
- Case Study Belgrade (Serbia), led by Regional Office Europe
- Case Study Bogotá (Colombia), led by Regional Office Latin America and the Caribbean
- Case Study Doha (Qatar), led by Regional Office West Asia
Project steps:
- Diagnosing the food waste problem in five cities: Working with local authorities to develop urban food waste baselines, supporting food waste measurement by the UNEP-led “Food Waste Index”, undertaking local policy analysis and stakeholder mapping to understand existing policies to address food waste.
- Understanding different enablers: Based on the diagnosis, analyzing different enablers (technological options, economic incentives, behavioral interventions, informational tools, investment, etc.) and successful business models; proposing a tailored intervention package to address food waste issue at consumer level.
- Engaging with target groups for change in policy, practice and behavior: Devising strategies of engaging critical food behavior actors in each locality; translating related evidence into easily accessible communication materials in local languages; developing engagement and dissemination strategies and identify partnerships for scaling up impacts.
Project Milestones:
- A global webinar co-hosted by UNEP and the Thailand Environment Institute on Dec 9 2020: The webinar will discuss how green and digital technologies could help to reduce food waste at consumer level.
- Summary of city case studies: Bangkok, Belgrade, Kampala, Doha, Bogota.
- Sustainable lifestyle campaigns in 5 cities (Sep 2021-Dec 2021, #GreenTechCities). Join us on Instagram, Linkedin
- Global report: “Reducing Consumer Food Waste Using Green and Digital Technologies”:
- Short video (full version): Leverage Technology to Tackle Consumer Food Waste
- Infographic: Leverage Technology to Tackle Consumer Food Waste
Project Partners:
