The 26th summit of the United Nations’ Conference on Climate Change, better known as COP26 is fast approaching. From Monday, tens of thousands of delegates from hundreds of nations will convene in Glasgow to discuss whether their strategy for adherence to the Paris agreement, the commitment to keep global temperature rising to only 1.5°C by 2100 is working. It is intended to be a chance for diplomats, politicians, and other elites to convene and discuss strategies to mitigate and curtail the impending climate catastrophe.
These summits occur yearly but the buzz around COP26 is louder than ever. Coming after a year of environmental disasters including floods, droughts, and wildfires dominating headlines and a damning IPCC report on anthropogenic climate change, it is little surprise to see public interest has been piqued.
Climate activists from around the world as well as local protestors will also be in Glasgow throughout the conference to call upon the politicians, diplomats and other elites at the conference to do more for the planet. These climate activists are not, however, the only people who will be attempting to get their voices heard over the upcoming media circus. Thousands of workers in cleaning and sanitation have made the difficult decision to strike throughout the conference to campaign for better conditions.
Jobs in sanitation are often treated disparagingly. Being a ‘janny’ or a ‘bin man’ is treated with contempt and derision in some circles. To be cleaning other people’s waste, it seems to some, is dirty, low skilled work that you wouldn’t wish on your worst enemy. Not only that, but it is accordingly low-paid too. This strike will see refuse collectors, cleaners, janitors and others bravely sacrifice wages for better material conditions for the invaluable work they do. This will mean that facilities will go uncleaned and rubbish will not be collected.
We hope that cities all over the world will do their best to prevent this strike progressing, but imagine for a second that the strike did take place, it will show the significance of the work of these men and women and the vital contributions to society they make. Perhaps this could also be a time for all of us to look at our lives and see how much we throw away, as the rubbish accumulates amongst the sleek modern office blocks, neo-classical architecture and sandstone tenements of Glasgow City centre.
The linear approach to consumption of resources -Make-Use-Throwaway, has led to increased waste stream, globally. The waste we create has knock-on effects for the world we inhabit. In 2018, Scotland’s households threw away 2.41million tonnes of waste; per capita, that is approximately 440kg of waste per person in Scotland. The food thrown away by Scottish home every year approximately equals 575,000, with a staggering 69% of this being edible. Food bank use increased by over 100% in 2020 when compared to 2019 across all 32 counties in Scotland as 400,000 tonnes of food that could have been eaten was left wasted.
With better management and distribution of food, there would not be food waste, amongst other types of waste piling high on city streets. With this much food thrown away, it could be the product of a society that has total food security and is in fact making an incredible surplus, however, this could not be further from the truth. Not only is this food not being consumed, more often than not it is left to rot and decompose, releasing methane and nitrous oxide, greenhouse gases with high global warming potentials.
What IntelliDigest is doing
IntelliDigest is a global food sustainability company committed to cutting food loss and waste from all stages of food production. From farm to fork, we have a holistic philosophy to provide solutions for businesses and individuals in the food sector. The Global Food Loss and Waste Tracker helps users assess how much food waste they are throwing away, its nutritional value, and environmental impact. Additionally, it helps connect producers with surpluses to consumers to ensure no food is thrown away.
Our technologies, including the pioneering iDigest, a robotic digestor of unavoidable food waste is aimed at bio-nutrient and biochemical recovery from unavoidable food waste at source thereby eliminating the onerous task of putrid food waste collection. The iSaver, a technology aimed at extending the shelf life of Agrifood products in redistribution, eliminating avoidable food waste.
Sign up to our Plan to Save scheme to discover more about what you can do to help the food system. With Plan to Save, you can pre-order sustainable, fresh and local produce packed with nutrients, thereby, supporting your local farmers to engage in sustainable farming practise, eliminate food waste and feed more people. By signing up to the Plan to Save campaign and reserving your weekly, fortnightly and monthly fresh food requirements, we will take the responsibility to identify local farmers around you or encourage the set up of local farmers to supply your reservation, ensuring the supply of nutritious food all year round for all.