Save food (and $20 billion a year) for a better climate

We’ve all discovered squishy vegetables in the bottom of the fridge and tossed them in the bin. That all-too-familiar routine is part of a food waste problem that costs the Australian economy an estimated $20 billion a year.

Waste not, want not. Illustration: Matt Davidson

The expense is one thing. Less well known is how much discarded food is contributing to climate change.

When food breaks down in landfill it generates methane, a potent greenhouse gas. The UN’s Food and Agriculture Organisation estimates food loss and waste generates about 8 per cent of global greenhouse gas emissions each year, making it a major contributor to climate change.

If the emissions from food loss and waste came from a single country it would be the world’s third-largest emitter after China and the US.

Read the opinion piece from The Age by Matt Wade - “Save food (and $20 billion a year) for a better climate.”