Even the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, or FAO, revealed that around 1.3 billion tons of food are wasted each year. Or equivalent to 30% of Global Food Production. The UN explains that if processed properly, this figure could feed 800 million hungry people. So which countries are the largest waste-wasting countries in the world? As an illustration, in the United States and England, on average, each family of 4 people throws away food worth 1600 US dollars, or around 24,000,000 Rupiah each year per family. If there are 100 million families, then 24 trillion Rupiah worth of food has been wasted.
In the United Arab Emirates, 34% of the existing waste is food waste. And 500 tons of food were wasted by Afghans throughout the month of Ramadan yesterday.
In Saudi Arabia, especially in the city of Riyadh, at least 12 million tons of food are wasted every day. If a portion of food is 10 Riyadh, then Saudi citizens have wasted 120 million Riyals, just for food that is wasted per day. If calculated in a year, Saudi Arabian citizens actually throw away around 43.8 billion Riyals, or equivalent to 155 trillion Rupiah in a year.
Wow. A very fantastic number, huh.
It turns out that in addition to the city of Riyadh, Medina, and Mecca, are the two largest contributors of waste.
In areas that are hit by malnutrition such as Africa and South Asia. The loss of food is equivalent to 400-500 calories per person, per day. Or half of the food waste thrown away by developed countries. So much food is wasted, which means we have wasted land, water and energy resources used in the production, processing and distribution of food. This also has an impact on the Final Waste Disposal Site, or (TPA). Carbolic emissions, and ultimately climate change.
As an illustration, there are 550 billion cubic meters of water used to grow food, but not eaten. While so much food is wasted, there are around 925,000,000 people who are malnourished every day. In 2018, more than 20 thousand people died of starvation every day.
Every year, 17 million children are born underweight because their mothers are malnourished. Then 316 thousand mothers die while giving birth due to malnutrition.
In Indonesia itself, there are no definite figures that state how much food waste is thrown away every day. However, if we look at the habits that we often do, starting with not finishing food, then cooking too much food, this is a habit that is often done, whether done consciously or unconsciously.
So why is there so much waste? What factors make this happen?
Food waste can occur in all food chains, depending on the level of progress and habits of the community. In North America, the biggest cause is the consumers themselves.
Meanwhile, in Africa, most of the food is lost during the production process.
In England, it was also found that 30% of vegetables were not harvested because of their physical appearance. Meanwhile, in Hong Kong, 65% of food waste comes from households. The rest comes from supermarkets, food stores, restaurants, hotels and schools.
If we look at it in general, it turns out that in addition to lifestyle, there are other factors that influence. Among them are agricultural processing skills, then transportation, expiration dates that are always strict, to offers at the time of purchase. For example, buy 1 get 1 free.
If we imagine and reflect on ourselves, the habit of hoarding excess food in the refrigerator, and also the habit of spending excessive food, has at least made an extraordinary contribution to this wasteful behavior. Likewise with residents who live in high-rise apartments, and do not have land to make compost. While the hotel government does not have adequate facilities for recycling food.
Greetings always compact.
By @midiagam