Since then, strict economy and opposition to food waste are no longer just moral advocacy and call, but become hard constraints of law.
On a global scale, more and more countries are aware of the harm caused by a large amount of food waste. Some practices of New Zealand, Japan and Italy may bring some enlightenment.
Family level is the most wasteful.
Holiday hoarding habits need to be changed
The Food Waste Index Report 202 1 issued by the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) and the cooperation organization WRAP shows that food waste is not only a problem in developed countries, but also a global problem. According to a new study supported by the United Nations, "global food waste will be halved by 2030", in just 20 19 years, about 9,365,438+billion tons of food finally entered the garbage bins of families, retailers, restaurants and other catering service institutions.
The report found that in almost every country that wastes food, regardless of income level, the amount of food wasted is very large. According to the report, at the global per capita level, 65,438+0,265,438+0 kilograms of food are wasted every year, of which 74 kilograms occur at home. In other words, family waste is very serious.
Food waste in New Zealand confirmed the findings of this report. Statistics show that in New Zealand, families throw away as much as 122547 tons of food every year, which is equivalent to wasting food that can fill three shopping carts on average every year. This food is enough for the whole population of Dunedin, the capital of Otago, New Zealand, for two years. The survey shows that bread is the most wasted food for New Zealanders, with an average of 20 million pieces of bread thrown away every year, followed by potatoes, apples, chicken, bananas and lettuce.
In response to this phenomenon, New Zealand launched a three-year "anti-waste" campaign from 20 16, named "Love food and hate waste". At that time, 59 parliaments in New Zealand and WasteMINZ jointly raised NZ $654.38+0 billion, hoping to effectively reduce food waste through nationwide publicity and education activities.
The New Zealand government believes that kitchen waste causes hundreds of millions of dollars in losses to the country every year, and also increases the burden of landfill, resulting in a large number of methane gas emissions. They believe that this action against waste "can reduce the cost of household expenditure, reduce the harmful impact of food waste on the environment, and more importantly, bring about changes in people's attitudes."
Although this is a national activity, different regions in New Zealand will determine different activities according to their own characteristics. For example, in Hamilton, where there are many orchards, community fruit picking days are held regularly, and the staff will teach local residents how to make food from food scraps.
The founder of "Love Food, Hate Waste" also found that in New Zealand, the Christmas holiday is the most serious time for food waste. On holidays, people often buy too many dishes and cook too many dishes, but in the end they have to throw them away because they can't finish eating them, causing waste. According to statistics, in the week before the festival, people began to hoard food, and the most purchased items were puffed food, drinks and meat.
In view of this situation, experts give the following suggestions to effectively avoid food waste during holidays:
First, plan the daily recipes for holidays in advance and don't buy too much food.
Second, after the party, the guests go home and let them take away a plate of leftover food.
Third, unopened cans can be donated to local communities or food banks.
Fourth, clean the refrigerator regularly and don't buy the same ingredients repeatedly.
Fifth, eat the leftovers and pack them. You can take them with you when you go out.
Change the practice of food circulation
Temporary food is on sale at a discount.
Temporary food is food that is close to the shelf life of food but has not expired. Shelf life is accompanied by food industry and food circulation. In principle, as long as the food is within the shelf life, the quality is guaranteed. Countries around the world deal with expired food in different ways. Simply throwing it away is likely to cause food waste. Some countries are used to selling temporary food at reduced prices or donating it directly to charities to provide basic food security for low-income people. However, in Japan, for a long time, a large number of temporary foods were designated as garbage bins.
Japan has always had strict requirements on the shelf life of food, which is closely related to the business habits of Japanese merchants. Japan's food circulation industry adopts the "one-third rule", that is, the time from the date of food manufacturing to the expiration of the shelf life is divided into three sections, and manufacturers and wholesalers must deliver the goods to retailers in the first stage. If the date is missed, the retailer can refuse to receive the goods, which may lead to a large number of food without quality problems being discarded. The original intention of this commercial behavior is to provide consumers with high-quality food, but it has been criticized for its strict time setting.
According to Japanese domestic media statistics, Japan wastes twice as much food as the United Nations food aid every year. The huge figures make Japan actively encourage people to buy products that are about to expire, and call for reducing food waste.
On may 20 19, the food waste reduction promotion law was passed in the Japanese house of representatives. The bill points out that the government has the responsibility to promote policies to avoid food waste. The bill calls for the establishment of a "food waste reduction promotion meeting" in the Cabinet Office to promote the "food bank" activities, that is, relevant groups can obtain food that will be abandoned during the shelf life from food production enterprises and provide it to welfare facilities or people with difficulties in life free of charge.
Convenience stores are one of the important channels for Japanese people to buy food. In order to reduce waste, after the bill was passed, several major convenience store giants took action. 7- 1 1 convenience stores try to reform and launch incentive activities to give reward points to customers who buy lunch boxes, bread and other foods near the shelf life. Customers who buy food within 5 hours from the shelf life will automatically become preferential targets. This measure has been implemented in more than 20,000 7- 1 1 convenience stores in Japan since the autumn of 20 19.
Familymart in Japan also launched an initiative at Christmas that year, announcing that all cakes sold would be booked. On Christmas Eve, customers can make an appointment online, including 63 kinds of Christmas cakes, fried chicken and drinks. Among them, if 10 cakes are booked 20 days before Christmas, you can get a discount of 300 yen, and you can buy fried chicken, cakes and other combinations with familymart's mobile payment App, and you can also cash back 500 yen. Previously, familymart also introduced an eel rice reservation system, which greatly reduced food waste.
Xiao Zhang, who is studying in Japan, told reporters that after the implementation of the Law on Reducing Food Waste and Promoting Food Consumption, some people saw business opportunities during the food tasting period, operated specialized supermarkets and sold foods that were about to expire or just passed the tasting period. The price is more than half cheaper than that of ordinary supermarkets. Xiao Zhang said that it is very attractive for students and office workers to buy favorite food at a more affordable price in such a supermarket. Because customers already know that these foods are about to expire or just expired, they usually eat them immediately after purchase.
"Community Anti-garbage Center"
"One-stop" for recycling, registration and distribution
Italy is the second largest agricultural producer in the European Union and a country famous for its delicious food.
In 20 16, Italy promulgated the Anti-Food Waste Law, encouraging enterprises or farms to donate food, and calling on restaurants to provide food bags to consumers, so that people can develop the good habit of packing after meals. A survey shows that after the implementation of the anti-food waste law, the total value of food wasted in Italy dropped to 0.88% of GDP from 20 18 to 20 19.
Andrea segre, a professor of international agricultural policy at the University of Bologna, was one of the first Italian scholars to pay attention to food waste. As early as 20 10, he launched the "Zero Waste Movement" in Italy. After the promulgation of the Anti-Food Waste Law, he spared no effort to publicize the concept of "zero waste" and communicated with other countries on this practice. In an interview with the media, he said that in recent years, Italy has continuously introduced new ideas to let more people know about the good practices of reducing food waste, such as setting up a national food waste prevention day, awarding awards to individuals and enterprises committed to reducing food waste, and investing in mobile phone applications for recycling food.
Wisdom exists among the people. Some Italians also put forward many novel ideas to stop food waste and turn austerity into interesting creation-people can check the "anti-waste" recipes shared by others online and cook healthy and delicious creative dishes with leftovers, such as spaghetti pancakes, lattes and ham meatloaf.
Milan is the second largest city in Italy. In order to use food more efficiently and gradually realize the goal of "zero waste" of food, the Milan municipal government launched a community-based attempt from 20 19.
Milan's first "community anti-garbage center" is located in the central business district of the city. Every day, the staff here will register and weigh the recycled food and then transport it to nearby charities. Food ranges from fruits and vegetables to ketchup and pasta. Before the establishment of this hub, the unsalable food in these supermarkets will be discarded as garbage. In 20 19, the Milan municipal government, in conjunction with local enterprise associations and universities, started this food-saving action. Every morning, the staff will go to the participating 1 1 supermarket to recycle unsold food to the community hub for storage and deliver it on demand in the afternoon. In addition, the community anti-waste hub will also absorb fresh dishes left unfinished in the canteens of five nearby companies and provide them to charities. Enterprises involved in providing food can enjoy certain tax incentives and are authorized to use the label of "zero waste" action of Milan municipal government.
From 20 19 to 2020, the number of charitable organizations benefiting from the project will increase from 14 to 2 1. The staff said that it is difficult to coordinate the balance between supply and demand of food suppliers and recipients and ensure the smooth flow of food stored in the anti-waste center without generating new waste. There is still a long way to go for the anti-garbage hub to cover all the people in need in the metropolitan area composed of Milan and surrounding towns 100. It is the ultimate goal of Milan municipal government to raise residents' awareness of anti-waste through this action.