The numbers are frightening. Between 25% and 30% of the food produced each year for human consumption - about 1.3 billion tonnes - is lost or wasted. This figure has increased by 40% since 1970 and represents 200 calories per day and per individual, according to a provisional report by Giec. UN climate experts are meeting Friday in Geneva on this issue: how to feed a growing population without destroying nature? Because if food waste is an unknown actor of climate change, its impacts on the environment are very real.
When food waste rhymes with atmospheric pollution
Produce, transform, preserve, pack, transport, even cook ... and then throw away: all these actions have a cost on our carbon footprint. If food was a country, it's simple, it would be the world's third largest polluter, behind the United States and China. Uneaten food accounts for 8% of global greenhouse gas emissions. According to the report of the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), published in 2013, this is equivalent to about seven times the volume of CO2 emitted by France.
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Waste also undoubtedly increases the amount of waste produced. However, most of the treatment systems used today, such as landfills or incineration, generate pollution in the air, but also in water and soil.
A waste of water resources
To waste food is to waste water. Uncontaminated food is consumed every year by 250 km3 of water, the annual flow of the Volga River in Russia or three times Lake Geneva.
To get an idea, it takes about 1,000 liters of water to produce one kilo of flour. Throwing a baguette is equivalent to throwing away a whole bath. For a kilo of red meat, the figure even goes up to 70 baths, taking into account the water consumed by the animals and used for the production of the food they consume.
The wasted food also occupies 1.4 billion hectares of land, or 28% of the world's agricultural land. So many spaces that should be watered, therefore. Not to mention the fertilizers and other pesticides used, often to the detriment of our ecosystems.
Economic consequences
Finally, food waste is obviously wasteful of money. According to the FAO, this loss costs nearly 1,000 billion dollars (900 billion euros) each year.
For France alone, this represents 16 billion euros per year, according to a study by the French Environment and Energy Management Agency (ADEME). The consumer being responsible for 45% of the waste, each French throws each year 108 euros in the trash.
Among the most discarded products are roots and tubers, as well as fruits and vegetables (45%) and fish (35%). Finally, 30% of cereals and 20% of meat are not eaten