UNITED NATIONS, March 30 (Xinhua) -- UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres on Monday called on the international community to build zero-waste food systems that "we need to nourish both people and planet."
"The world wastes far too much food," Guterres said in his message on the International Day of Zero Waste, observed annually on March 30.
He said that every day, people across the globe throw away food enough to prepare 1 billion meals while letting 9 percent of humanity go hungry, putting the climate, ecosystems and health at risk, and threatening the ability to feed ourselves in the future.
Guterres urged consumers to make a big impact with small changes in their shopping and cooking habits, retailers to optimize their operations and redistribute surplus food, cities to scale organic waste separation and strengthen procurement for schools and hospitals, and national governments to drive systemic change by addressing food waste in their climate action and biodiversity plans and forging public-private partnerships.
Through initiatives like the Food Waste Breakthrough and No Organic Waste, the international community can halve food waste by 2030, cut the methane emissions by up to 7 percent, and build circular, resilient food systems, he said.
These efforts, beyond protecting our planet, will create green jobs, reduce food insecurity and climate impacts, and prevent up to 1 trillion U.S. dollars in economic losses each year, according to the secretary-general.
"We cannot take food for granted," he stressed.
Every year, humanity generates between 2.1 billion and 2.3 billion tonnes of municipal solid waste, and some 2.7 billion people lack access to waste collection, according to figures released by the UN Human Settlements Programme.
Waste pollution significantly threatens well-being, economic prosperity, and accelerates the triple planetary crisis of climate change, nature and biodiversity loss, and pollution. Without urgent action, annual municipal solid waste generation will hit 3.8 billion tonnes by 2050, according to the agency.
The UN General Assembly adopted a resolution in December 2022 designating March 30 as the International Day of Zero Waste, to encourage sustainable production and consumption habits and increase awareness of how zero-waste projects accelerate the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. ■
