Since then, strict economy and opposition to food waste are no longer just moral advocacy and call, but become a hard constraint of law.
On a global scale, more and more countries are aware of the harm caused by a large amount of food waste. Some practices in New Zealand, Japan and Italy may bring some enlightenment.
Family level is the most wasteful.
Holiday hoarding habits need to be changed.
The Food Waste Index Report 202 1 issued by the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) and the partner organization WRAP shows that food waste is not only a problem in developed countries, but also a global problem. According to a new study conducted by the United Nations to support "halving global food waste by 2030", in 20 19 years alone, about 9,365,438+billion tons of food finally entered the garbage bins of families, retailers, restaurants and other catering services.
The report found that in almost every country that wastes food, regardless of income level, the amount of food wasted is very large. According to the report, at the global per capita level, 65,438+0,265,438+0 kilograms of food at the consumer level are wasted every year, of which 74 kilograms occur at home. In other words, family waste is very serious.
Food waste in New Zealand confirms the findings of the report. Statistics show that in New Zealand, families throw away as much as 122547 tons of food every year, which is equivalent to an average of three shopping carts filled with wasted food every year. These foods are enough for all residents in Dunedin, the capital of Otago, New Zealand, to eat for two years. The survey shows that bread is the most wasted food for New Zealanders, with an average of 20 million pieces of bread thrown away every year, followed by potatoes, apples, chicken, bananas and lettuce.
In response to this phenomenon, New Zealand launched a three-year "anti-waste" campaign from 20 16, which was called "Love food and hate waste". At that time, 59 parliaments in New Zealand and WasteMINZ jointly raised NZD 65,438+0,000, hoping to effectively reduce food waste through nationwide publicity and education activities.
The New Zealand government believes that kitchen waste causes hundreds of millions of dollars in losses to the country every year, and also increases the burden of landfill, resulting in a large number of methane gas emissions. They believe that this action against waste "can reduce the cost of household expenditure, reduce the harmful impact of food waste on the environment, and more importantly, bring about a change in people's attitude."
Although this is a national activity, different regions in New Zealand will determine different activities according to their own characteristics. For example, in Hamilton, where there are many orchards, community fruit picking days will be held regularly, and the staff will teach local residents how to make food from food scraps.
The founder of "Love Food, Hate Waste" also found that in New Zealand, the Christmas holiday is the most serious time for food waste. During holidays, people often buy too much food and cook too much food, but in the end, they can only throw them away because they can't finish eating them, which leads to waste. According to statistics, one week before the holiday, people began to hoard food, and the most common purchases were puffed food, drinks and meat.
In view of this situation, experts give the following suggestions to effectively avoid food waste during the festival:
First of all, plan the daily recipes for holidays in advance, and don't buy too much food.
Second, after the party, when the guests go home, let them take away a plate of leftover food.
Third, unopened cans can be donated to local communities or food banks.
Fourth, clean the refrigerator regularly and don't buy the same ingredients repeatedly.
Fifth, eat the leftovers and pack them so that you can take them away when you go out.
Change the practice of food circulation
Temporary food is on sale at a discount.
Temporary food refers to food that is close to the shelf life of food but has not expired. Shelf life is accompanied by food industry and food circulation. In principle, as long as the food is within the shelf life, the quality is guaranteed. Countries around the world deal with expired food in different ways. Simply throwing it away is likely to cause food waste. Some countries are used to selling temporary food at reduced prices or donating it directly to charities to provide basic food security for low-income people. However, in Japan, for a long time, a large number of temporary foods were sent to garbage bins.
Japan has always had strict requirements on the shelf life of food, which is closely related to the business habits of Japanese merchants. Japan's food circulation industry adopts the "one-third rule", that is, the time from the date of food manufacture to the expiration date of shelf life is divided into three sections, and manufacturers and wholesalers must deliver the goods to retailers in the first stage. If the date is missed, the retailer can refuse to receive the goods, which may lead to a large number of food without quality problems being abandoned. The original intention of this commercial behavior is to provide consumers with high-quality food, but it has been criticized for its strict time setting.
According to the statistics of Japanese domestic media, Japan wastes twice as much food as UN food aid every year. The huge figures make Japan actively encourage people to buy products that are about to expire, and call for reducing food waste.
On may 20 19, the food waste reduction promotion law was passed in the Japanese house of representatives. The bill points out that the government has the responsibility to promote policies to avoid food waste. The bill calls for the establishment of a "food waste reduction promotion meeting" in the Cabinet Office to promote the "food bank" activities, that is, relevant groups can obtain food that will be abandoned within the shelf life from food production enterprises and provide it to welfare facilities or people with difficulties in life free of charge.
Convenience stores are one of the important channels for Japanese people to buy food. In order to reduce waste, several major convenience store giants took action after the bill was passed. 7- 1 1 convenience stores try to reform and launch incentive activities to reward customers who buy lunch boxes, bread and other foods near the shelf life. Customers who buy food within 5 hours from the shelf life will automatically become preferential targets. Since the autumn of 20 19, this measure has been implemented in more than 20,000 7- 1 1 convenience stores in Japan.
Familymart in Japan also launched an initiative on Christmas that year, announcing that all cakes sold would be reserved. On Christmas Eve, customers can make an appointment online, including 63 kinds of Christmas cakes, fried chicken and drinks. Among them, 65,438+00 kinds of cakes can get a discount of 300 yen if they are booked 20 days before Christmas, and 500 yen can be cashed back when using familymart's mobile payment App to buy fried chicken, cakes and other combinations. Previously, familymart also introduced an eel rice reservation system, which greatly reduced food waste.
Xiao Zhang, who is studying in Japan, told reporters that after the implementation of the Food Waste Reduction Promotion Law, some people saw business opportunities during the food tasting period, specializing in selling foods that are about to expire or have just passed the tasting period. The price is more than half cheaper than that of ordinary supermarkets. Xiao Zhang said that it is very attractive for students and workers to be able to buy favorite food at a more affordable price in such a supermarket. Because customers already know that these foods are about to expire or just expired, they usually eat them immediately after purchase.
"Community Anti-garbage Center"
Recovery, registration and distribution are "one-stop"
Italy is the second largest agricultural producer in the European Union, and it is also a country famous for its food.
In 20 16, Italy promulgated the Anti-Food Waste Law, encouraging enterprises or farms to donate food, and calling on restaurants to provide food bags to consumers, so that people can develop the good habit of packing after meals. According to a survey, after the implementation of the Anti-Food Waste Law, the total value of wasted food in Italy dropped to 0.88% of GDP from 20 18 to 20 19.
Andrea segre, a professor of international agricultural policy at the University of Bologna, was one of the first Italian scholars to pay attention to food waste. As early as 20 10, he launched the "zero waste movement" in Italy. After the promulgation of the Anti-Food Waste Law, he spared no effort to publicize the concept of "zero waste" and communicated with other countries on this practice. In an interview with the media, he said that in recent years, Italy has continuously introduced new ideas to let more people know about the good practices of reducing food waste, such as setting up a national food waste prevention day, awarding awards to individuals and enterprises committed to reducing food waste, and investing in the development of mobile phone applications for recycling food.
Wisdom exists among the people. Some Italians also put forward many novel ideas to stop food waste and turn austerity into interesting creation-people can check the "anti-waste" recipes shared by others online and cook healthy and delicious creative dishes with leftovers, such as spaghetti pancakes, lattes and ham meatloaf.
Milan is the second largest city in Italy. In order to make more effective use of food and gradually realize the goal of "zero waste" of food, the Milan municipal government began a community attempt from 20 19.
Milan's first "community anti-garbage center" is located in the central business district of the city. Every day, the staff here will register and weigh the recycled food and then transport it to nearby charities. Food ranges from fruits and vegetables to ketchup and pasta. Before the center is established, the unsold food in these supermarkets will be discarded as garbage. In 20 19, the Milan municipal government, together with local business associations and universities, launched this food saving action. Every morning, the staff will go to the participating 1 1 supermarket to recycle unsold food to the community hub and store it, and distribute it on demand in the afternoon. In addition, the community anti-waste center will also absorb fresh dishes left unfinished in the canteens of five nearby companies and provide them to charities. Enterprises involved in providing food can enjoy certain tax incentives and are authorized to use the label of "zero waste" action of Milan municipal government.
From 20 19 to 2020, the number of charitable organizations benefiting from the project will increase from 14 to 2 1. The staff said that it is difficult to coordinate the balance between supply and demand between food suppliers and recipients and ensure the smooth flow of food stored in the anti-waste center without generating new waste. In the metropolitan area, which consists of the whole city of Milan and the surrounding towns 100, there is still a long way to go for the anti-waste center to cover all those in need. The ultimate goal of Milan municipal government is to raise residents' awareness of anti-waste through this action.
I don¡¯t like visiting tourist attractions. I like to play and eat some snacks. It¡¯s best to attach the route.