4 effective strategies to reduce household food waste

The global food system produces enough food for everyone, yet in 2023, 333 million people worldwide were food insecure and 783 million people were chronically hungry. An estimated 1.3 billion tons of food – 14 percent of all produced – is lost or wasted worldwide every year.

1.3 billion tons of food is enough to feed more than three billion people.

Food waste contributes almost eight to ten percent of all greenhouse gas emissions. That level of emissions is on the scale of what a large country would produce – just below the total emissions estimates of the United States and China – and is a serious contributor to climate change.

The biggest contributors to food waste are high-income countries, where the average consumer wastes between 95 and 115 kilos of food per year. In Canada, approximately 60 percent of food produced is lost or wasted each year, costing an estimated $49.5 billion. This figure represents approximately half of Canada’s annual food purchasing costs and three percent of Canada’s GDP in 2016.

We are researchers who have worked or are currently working on solutions to this food waste problem.

Why food loss and waste occurs

Food waste and loss occurs at every stage of the food chain.

For example, food loss before distribution can occur due to poor harvests. Meanwhile, post-harvest handling and storage can also cause waste, as food is thrown away due to imperfections or damage during transportation.

While some food loss and waste – such as eggshells, tea bags or bones – is unavoidable, much of it can be avoided, especially in retail and household settings.

The retail context is where approximately 14 percent of avoidable food waste occurs, as foods are often overstocked by supermarkets that prioritize consistent availability at the expense of wasted products.

In households, food is wasted mainly due to spoilage, with the greatest volume lost to perishables, especially fruits and vegetables. The latter area is responsible for almost half of all food waste in Canada.

Consequences of food loss and waste

In Canada, it is estimated that every household throws away almost three kilograms of food that could have been eaten every week. To put that number into context, that’s about 15 apples or large carrots unnecessarily sent to the landfill every week.

On average, food costs represent more than 11 percent of family income, with lower-income families having to spend an even larger percentage of their income on food.

The average household throws away nearly $900 each year, and with nearly seven million Canadian households struggling to put enough food on the table – and two in five reporting that cost is a barrier to healthy eating – that waste is mounting.

Read more: How to green your life by 2024

In addition to money, food waste can also have consequences for the health of our diet. Often it’s the nutrient-rich fruits, vegetables and perishables that end up in the trash, rather than shelf-stable, ultra-processed foods that have known health consequences.

Because food loss and waste occur at every stage of the food chain, solutions are needed at every stage. While food loss may be harder to avoid earlier in the chain, retailers and households have the power to tackle food waste every day.

Current solutions to food waste include upcycling food waste, establishing urban compost programs to divert waste from landfills, and promoting consumer awareness through education to prevent food from becoming waste in the first place.

Food waste interventions in practice

Wanting to tackle this global problem, our research group developed and tested a four-week intervention in 2020 to reduce food waste among Canadian families.

Mothers, fathers and children were invited to participate in a four-week intervention with the following components:

1) A cooking class

2) Four text messages per week with information about food waste and reminders to reduce waste

3) A toolkit including a vegetable brush (to reduce the waste of vegetable peels), a cookbook aimed at reducing food waste, a meal and grocery planner, reusable containers for storing leftovers and a fridge magnet poster showing where food can go best preserved.

The families indicated that they were very satisfied with the overall intervention and particularly appreciated the cookbook and the vegetable brush as tools in preventing food waste.

Parents also reported an increase in confidence in reducing household food waste. The children involved in the study also reported an improved ability to interpret expiration dates – or food that is not as fresh as it was, but still perfectly edible.

At household level, we found a 37 percent reduction in avoidable fruit and vegetable waste, measured during four-week food waste audits, where waste was collected and weighed individually.

These results are promising because they show that even at the height of the COVID-19 pandemic (summer 2020), families can still reduce food waste using simple tools and cues, without reducing fruit and vegetable intake. Another promising result is that we were able to involve both parents and children, resulting in changes at the individual and family level.

Tips for healthier eating and less food waste

Incorporating healthy foods into our diets shouldn’t be too much of a hassle, but busy schedules and rising grocery prices can get in the way.

Finding simple ways to reduce household food waste is crucial.

That said, the responsibility for food loss and waste should not fall solely on individual consumers. While individuals can make a difference, bigger policy changes are also needed – in the way food is grown, processed and distributed.

Read more: We found 3 types of food wasters, which one are you?

If you are interested in eating healthier and helping improve the health of our planet, here are some steps you can take:

1) Plan your meals before you go shopping

2) Learn to love leftovers

3) Store food properly so that it does not spoil

4) Advocate for change!