International Day of Zero Waste

April Dykes
3 日前
読了時間: 7分

Wars. Famine. Water shortages. There are so many issues in the world today that are beyond our control. However, there is one issue that we all can begin to tackle today: food waste. “Households across all continents wasted over 1 billion meals a day in 2022, while 783 million people were affected by hunger, and a third of humanity faced food insecurity. Food waste continues to hurt the global economy and fuel climate change, nature loss, and pollution” (United Nations Environment Programme).

Seeing those numbers really puts it into perspective, right? We are all guilty of not paying attention to the expiration date and letting the item go bad, or forgetting you put meat in the freezer to thaw. We’ve all contributed to food waste in some capacity, and while it may not seem like such a big deal, when it’s being done by millions of people at the same time, the results are staggering. Today, as we celebrate International Day of Zero Waste, we will talk more about its 2026 theme of food waste.

International Day of Zero Waste

As humanity and technology advance, so does the amount of waste humans produce. While textile, electronic, plastic, and food waste are not the only types of waste the average person produces, the volume of these types of waste has led to the creation of the International Day of Zero Waste.

“On 14 December 2022, the United Nations General Assembly adopted a resolution at its seventy-seventh session to proclaim 30 March as International Day of Zero Waste, to be observed annually. The International Day of Zero Waste encourages sustainable production and consumption habits and aims at increasing awareness of how zero-waste projects accelerate the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development.

The United Nations Human Settlements Programme (UN-Habitat) and the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) facilitate the observance of the Day” (UN-Habitat). This initiative happened after the world was made aware of the triple planetary crisis. According to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), the triple planetary crisis is the culmination of 3 main issues that can lead to dire consequences to humanity:

Climate change
Pollution
Biodiversity loss

Since 2023, International Day of Zero Waste has been celebrated annually on March 30th, focusing on a different aspect of the triple planetary crisis.

2023: A focus on zero-waste initiatives overall
2024: A focus on waste management and sustainable production
2025: The theme was “Towards zero waste in fashion and textiles”. There was a focus on how we can manage the impacts fast fashion has on the environment.
2026: The theme is “Food waste”.

Food waste

Here are 5 important facts from the UNEP Food Waste Index Report 2024 to keep in mind as we celebrate International Day of Zero Waste

1. One-fifth of food produced for human consumption is lost or wasted globally. This amounts to one billion meals a day.

2. The total cost of food loss and waste for the global economy is estimated at roughly US$1 trillion.

3. Food loss and waste generate up to 10 per cent of global greenhouse gas emissions – almost five times the total emissions compared to the aviation sector.

4. Sixty percent of food waste happens at the household level.

5. Food waste is higher in hotter countries, both at the household level and in the post-harvest phase, with high temperatures affecting storage, processing, and transportation of food.

Let’s put your knowledge about food waste to the test. Click the image below to access an interactive quiz created by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the UN.

(If clicking on the image doesn’t work, click the icon here ♻️)

Food waste in Japan

According to the Ministry of Environment: Government of Japan, the country generated 4.64 million tons of Food Loss and Waste (FLW). Of the 4.64 million tons, 2.33 million were attributed to households, and the remaining 2.31 million came from businesses. These numbers, while high, are a huge improvement from the 2000 statistics that led to the creation of the 2030 goal.

In 2000, according to the Public Relations Office: Government of Japan, the nation produced 9.8 million tons of FLW. Since 2000, Japan has created many initiatives and laws to continue to reduce the amount of food waste and reach its 2030 goal of reducing business FLW by 60% and household FLW by 50%. Among those initiatives are the Food Recycling Law (2001) and the Act on Promotion of Food Loss and Waste Reduction (2019).

By 2023, Japan had made significant strides in reaching the 2030 goal. “In fiscal 2023, estimated food waste in Japan decreased by 80,000 tons year on year to a new record low of 4.64 million tons. This amounts to an annual per-capita total of 37 kilograms. The figure was announced by the Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry, and Fisheries; the Ministry of the Environment; and the Consumer Affairs Agency” (Nippon, 2025).

Preventing food waste

The following tips come from the United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA)

Shopping

Buying in large quantities (e.g., buy one, get one free deals) only saves money if you use all the food before it spoils.
Make your shopping list based on how many meals you’ll eat at home. Consider how often you will eat out, if you plan to eat frozen, precooked meals, and if you will eat leftovers for any of your meals.
Look in your refrigerator, freezer, and pantry first to avoid buying food you already have. Make a list each week of what needs to be used up and plan upcoming meals around it.
Purchase imperfect produce or upcycled products.

Storage and prep

If safe and healthy, use the edible parts of food that you normally do not eat. For example, stale bread can be used to make French Toast or croutons…
Most veggies, especially those that could wilt (such as leafy greens, carrots, cucumbers, and broccoli) should go in the high-humidity drawer of the fridge.
Most fruits, as well as vegetables that tend to rot (such as mushrooms and peppers), should go in the low-humidity drawer of the fridge.
Freeze, pickle, dehydrate, can, or make jam/jelly from surplus fruits and vegetables - especially abundant seasonal produce.
Some fruits (such as bananas, apples, pears, stone fruits, and avocados) release ethylene gas as they ripen, making other nearby produce ripen and potentially spoil faster. Store these away from other produce.
Store grains in airtight containers and label containers with contents and the dates.

NPOs that combat food waste

Here are 3 Japanese NPOs that tackle food waste in varying ways that you can support, volunteer with, or take useful tips from.

Second Harvest

As Japan’s first incorporated food bank, we are working with others to create a new public asset, a food safety-net, so that everyone will have access to food in their own community.

VISION

We are working with others to create a food safety net so that all people have access to food.

Ensuring we have a robust food lifeline is a critical step.

Core programs

Food Banks: Linking donors and beneficiaries

Food banks act as a bridge connecting food surplus with unmet need.

What is a “food safety-net”?

A food safety-net provides access to enough safe, nutritious food to those in need in their own community.

What is a “Food Lifeline”?

In Japan, lifeline refers to those basic services (gas, electricity, and water) that we rely on for daily living. We define the Food Lifeline as the basic infrastructure necessary to carry out food bank operations. This includes personnel, trucks, warehouses, and technology.

Japanharvest

JapanHarvest collects surplus quality food from supermarkets and delivers it free of charge to charities that support those in need. We’re working hard to reduce food waste, provide food relief, and encourage societal change through education.

Direct Delivery of Donated Items

We collect food directly from supermarkets, convenience stores, hotels, and food manufacturers. Our food rescue initiative involves gathering donated food items and delivering them directly to those in need. Donated food is carefully distributed to single-parent households, children's cafeterias, and child welfare facilities, among others.

Also Accept Refrigerated Items

We offer swift donations with proper temperature management. Tofu, natto, abura-age, along with vegetables, fruits, yogurt, milk, pizza, and fresh ramen. A diverse range of food items are delivered to those in need. If you have food to spare, please consider donating to us!

Aid to Welfare Organisations: Food Assistance

We promptly deliver food received from donors to welfare organisations. All our food and services are provided free of charge.

Thorough Reporting on Contract Completion

We have signed agreements with food supply companies. These agreements establish rules regarding the handling and prohibition of sales of the food, ensuring that the provided food is not used for unintended purposes. Additionally, we provide reports after donating the food to welfare organisations.

How to get involved

Mottainai

We are proud of our activity, because we contribute most to the reduction of food loss and waste in Japan.

We have been working to reduce food loss and waste (FLW) in Japan since 2016, because Japan has large amounts of food loss and waste compared with other countries.

For companies?

We buy (or sometimes are given) food from them that would be thrown away, which can be eaten safely. After that, we sell these foods to customers in our shop. This leads to reducing FLW. For consumers, we take another approach, which is explained below. The reason why we take different approaches for two actors is that we don’t know whether customers conserve food properly. On the other hand, we can be sure that food companies do that because they have knowledge of how to conserve food and the means to do it.

*We call this activity “direct activity for the reduction of FLW”.

For customers?

What we do is advocacy and development. We work to explain the difference between “Best Before” and “Expiry Dates” and the best way to preserve food, and make customers understand the correct information about food.

In order to do so, we explain on our website, social media, to schools or students, and at our shop ecoeat.

*We call this activity “indirect activity for reduction of food loss and waste.”

Food waste is such a common thing, but it’s something that we can easily change for the sake of our today and the next generation’s tomorrow. I hope you were able to find useful information to help you in your journey to reduce food waste ☀️