Setting the table to prevent food waste
Sri Lanka to observe first ever International Day of Awareness of Food Loss and Waste on Tuesday
COLOMBO – Sri Lanka will be observing the first ever ‘International Day of Awareness of Food Loss and Waste’, on Tuesday (29), with a series of programs that seeks to raise awareness on the importance of reducing, recycling and reusing food waste. A novel global initiative, the day seeks to highlight the importance of minimizing food waste and presents a call to action to everyone along supply chains right down to the consumers.
Statistics reveal around 50 to 60% of solid waste transported in Sri Lanka’s Western Province to the three dumping sites in Kaduwela, Karadiyana and Kerawalapitiya in 2018/2019 were food waste. While efforts are being made to educate the masses on the importance of minimizing food waste, the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) has highlighted that prevention of food waste is key because it preserves food at the highest socio-economic and environmental value for producers, processors, distributors, and households. Prevention and reduction of food waste, from wholesale to households, it has said, can support food access for all, especially those most vulnerable in the face of food insecurity and climate change.
The FAO has also said State and private sector collaborations and partnerships are vital for successful food waste prevention and reduction actions through investments in infrastructure, better food packaging and portioning, and enhanced knowledge on the impact of one’s food choices on health, the environment, and the economy.
The FAO in a media release on Monday (28), noted that the Sri Lankan Ministry of Urban Development and Housing, supported by FAO and the International Water Management Institute (IWMI), has launched a project on “innovative approaches to reduce, recycle and reuse food waste in urban areas” aiming towards:
- Raising Awareness on the impact of and solutions for food waste. Enabling stakeholders’ consultations through face-to-face or digital meetings;
- Collaboration and Co-ordination of stakeholders for food waste data collection in 10 urban areas and estimates of its socio-economic and environmental impacts. A multidisciplinary team, including academia, are conducting in-depth research to identify knowledge gaps and innovative solutions;
- Drafting an evidence-based Urban Strategy and Roadmap on Food Waste Prevention, Reduction, and Management in Sri Lanka, for which consultations with the public sector, the private sector, and civil society are being held.
As a run up to the 2020 ‘International Day of Awareness of Food Loss and Waste’, it said the Ministry of Urban Development and Housing, together with the FAO and IWMI, had conducted three digital consultations on food waste prevention and reduction for universities, food services, and retailers/supermarkets. One more digital workshop is planned for schools in October 2020, it added.
-ENCL