Rethinking and practising the 3Rs (reduce, reuse, recycle) for preventing food loss and waste to increase food security

Abstract

Worldwide, more than 1.3 billion tonnes of food are discarded annually. Food Loss and Waste (FLW) in the food supply chain (FSC) varies by countries and poses innumerable challenges and lost opportunities for farmers, consumers, and societies as a whole. Prudent use of this food waste may help mitigate hunger and malnutrition crisis. FLW represents not only profound waste of food but also the loss of essential natural, financial, and human resources, like arable lands, water footprints, energy, manure, chemical compounds, money, and labour. These two factors—of loss and waste—together challenge the fundamental human right of a healthy environment and food security. This chapter provides an overview of the prevention and generation of FLW in developed and developing countries, and analyses of their harmful effects, including consequences on the global burden of malnutrition. Several feasible solutions are proposed for combating FLW to achieve sustainable development.