Why should we be reducing food waste?
Food waste has increased due to exponential rise in population and overproduction. The consequence of such has been a significant rise in harmful greenhouse emissions- now contributing to 10% of total greenhouse emissions. However, this is preventable and Intellidigest have solutions to help households and companies divert large quantities of waste though IntelliDigest’s innovative solutions. Encouragingly we are seeing a global shift in attitudes such as an increase in industry social and environmental responsibility that has created a growing market for food waste solutions.
What are Intellidigest solutions?
One of IntelliDigest’s many solutions has been the recent release of The Global Food Waste Tracker on June 18th 2021. This looks at the greenhouse emissions created by food waste and analyses consumption data to understand where these can be best reduced. The tracker supports the SDG goals by quantifying food waste and presenting users with the monetary value of the waste they throw away. The data collected from measuring food waste will help understand where we can avoid potential greenhouse gas emissions from farm to fork.
In addition, we have also been continuing our knowledge-to-action courses over the summer. At Intellidigest we run courses designed to transform knowledge to action. For example how you can utilise tech data in food sustainability and build life-cycle thinking. These can be a great way to achieve some of the goals set by the UN. By helping your business identify gaps in your processes we can help guide you to achieve sustainable processes.
What is happening in the current market?
Recently developments in the market include an app created by University of Bristol students to reduce food waste in schools and college. Users are asked to log into the app and choose their school meal choices one week in advance; caterers can accurately plan how much of each food they need and prevent excess supply. In addition, it shows the diner the environmental impact of their food choices so they become more conscientious consumers. The developers of ‘KnoWaste’ believe this app can reduce 50% of food waste in UK schools and Universities, cut expenses by 6% and direct tonnes of waste from landfill each year.
However, consumers can be unreliable so the concept is perhaps over reliant on the consumer for this reason. So is there a better way of reducing food waste that deals with the treatment and sustainability of food waste rather than the management of oversupply?
There have been developments in chemical solutions that can help reduce waste even after it has become a problem. ‘Bluapple’ is a product that sits in your fridge and absorbs ethylene gas, this prevents the perishable goods such as fruit and vegetables from going off and extends their shelf life by up to 3 times. Along with their ‘Hydroliner zip lock bags’; this preserves food freshness and moisture. These scientific solutions are intuitive ways to keep food out of landfill by prolonging usability. But, it does need a refill every 3 months and this is a preventative measure, what about the foods that cannot be eaten such as banana peels and apple cores?
What can you do?
By downloading the Food loss and Waste tracker you can ensure a global outreach addressing food sustainability. It is one of the first solutions to be available worldwide. Users can access everyday hacks to prevent food waste and compare wastage on the virtual map. This allows us to provide a comprehensive understanding of where food is being wasted and achieving UN goals of net zero across all industries. Your contribution will allow scientists to better understand where waste can be minimised in the food chain and help us develop targeted solutions to different types of food waste.