Recent years have been relatively good to Mother Earth. It has become an increasing trend for people to reduce preventable food waste. In Europe, it would seem that Denmark has taken the lead because of certain behavioral changes.
One of the most influential game-changers is Claus Holm, a celebrity chef in Denmark. He was seen in a festival in Fyn, a Danish island, using ingredients that he called "totally forbidden," NPR reports. For two hours he whipped up appetizing and completely acceptable dishes using bruised vegetables, tired looking bread, lots of slightly graying meat, and-gasp! cream that expired on the same day.
Efforts like this seem to be paying off as Danes now throw out less than half of preventable food waste compared to the US. Nowadays, the average Dane will only dispose of 104 pounds of waste compared the average American's 273 pounds.
Total EU food waste tops at about 89million tons of food and, at the moment, Britain is the worst offender of the entire EU, Reuters UK reports. Without any intervention, this number is expected to rise to 126million tons by 2020. This has very significant costs to the economy, environment, and to society in general.
European food waste is primarily produced by households, followed by food and drink manufacturers, then by the food service and hospitality sector, and lastly, by retailers and wholesalers. Household waste accounts for about 7 million tons of food and drink which would have otherwise been eaten. This a great waste that governments can no longer ignore.
According to Love Food Hate Waste, there are two main reasons why households produce this much waste. The first is that too much food is cooked or prepared and, second, the food is not consumed in time. Food most wasted are fresh vegetables and salad, drinks, fresh fruits, and baked goods like bread and cakes.
