Giving Compass' Take:

• Innovative ideas for reducing food waste are becoming more and more popular. Arabella Advisors adds the trend by offering ways to dramatically reduce waste on a broad scale. 

• Which of the suggestions will be the most difficult to implement within the food industry? 

• Read an interview with Dr. Abdou Tenkouano,  a member of the Steering Committee for the report from The Economics of Ecosystems and Biodiversity for Agriculture and Food (TEEB AgriFood).

The food we leave on our plates, that we let linger on our shelves too long, that stores and restaurants toss, and that farmers leave in fields negatively affects our health, our economy, and our environment. These on-the-ground solutions are springboards to a more resilient and productive food system.

American consumers and businesses send 52 million tons of food to landfills every year, adding up to $218 billion worth of food and comprising up to 1.3 percent of the country’s GDP.

How we can drastically reduce food waste on a broad scale by implementing the ideas below:

  • Rethinking food retail:  We have identified actionable interventions related to procurement, transportation, store infrastructure, storage and handling, merchandising, customer education, and industry standards.
  • Advances in food packaging: Existing and future innovation in packaging material and function can reduce food waste from farm to fork, especially the 66 percent of food waste generated in grocery stores and homes.
  • Designing home kitchens with food waste in mind:  We could achieve outsized impact by implementing changes to refrigerator, cabinet, shelving, and storage container designs that help consumers see and remember to eat food before it spoils, preserve food longer with more effective temperature control, and streamline waste management.
  • Initiatives in culinary schools and restaurant kitchens: ducating and training chefs on food waste reduction could go a long way toward curbing the waste generated by the restaurant, food service, and hospitality industries.
  • Right-sizing anaerobic digestion systems: Anaerobic digesters (ADs)—machines that convert organic material to biogas—are a profitable diversion method for food waste.

Read the full article about reducing food waste by Eric Kessler at Arabella Advisors