Momentum around food waste solutions may be reaching a tipping point, providing hope that a significant reduction to food loss and waste is possible.

According to Pete Pearson, Senior Director of Food Loss and Waste for WWF, food systems stakeholders are beginning to identify value in food that currently goes to waste.

“There’s this Nirvana point, there’s this point when we start to realize that waste actually has value, and it can have profitability attached to it,” Pearson tells Food Tank. He continues, “I think we’re to a point where we recognize that these are not waste streams. They’re value streams, and we can harvest and get either nutrients or energy from them and make that profitable…As soon as we start crossing that line, I think the dominoes start to fall.”

A recent report from WWF finds that 2.5 billion tonnes of food—equivalent to 40 percent of all food grown—goes uneaten each year. This contributes to roughly 10 percent of global greenhouse gas emissions.

But addressing food loss and waste at this scale food loss requires accurate data, and farmers and food businesses aren’t always forthcoming with numbers. Pearson explains he understands this, and knows that many stakeholders are quick to find fault with those generating waste. That’s why he says it’s important to move beyond this “blame game.”

Listen to the full conversation with Pete Pearson on “Food Talk with Dani Nierenberg” to hear more about finding value in waste streams, why wasted meat and seafood have such large environmental footprints, and the innovations that are helping businesses cut food waste.

Read the full article about food waste by Elena Seeley at Food Tank.