One in every three people was struggling with food insecurity…
(Source – Drishti IAS)
And the largest population battling hunger was seen right here in India.
In such a scenario, a hotel in Pune introduced a rule that went viral — if you waste food, you’ll be charged an extra ₹20. This was shared by a user on ‘X.’
This isn’t something new… many restaurants around the world do the same. But the mindset of not letting food go to waste is a powerful one.
Because according to the United Nations Environment Programme’s (UNEP) Food Waste Index Report (FWIR) 2024, Indian households waste nearly 80 million tonnes of food every year. On average, one Indian wastes 55 kg of food annually.
The report defined “food waste” as — “food and the associated inedible parts removed from the human food supply chain.”
Meanwhile, as per the Global Hunger Index 2023, about 235 million people in India were found suffering from severe hunger, and India ranked 111th out of 125 countries — placing hunger in the “serious” category.
Yes, FWIR placed India’s food wastage data under the ‘Medium Confidence’ category — meaning the data isn’t fully accurate due to limited coverage, small sample sizes, and tracking issues.
But here’s the bigger picture — food loss (FL) and food waste (FW) together cost the global economy around $1 trillion.
(Source – The New Indian Express)
And look at this — FL and FW together contribute 8–10% of global Greenhouse Gas (GHG) emissions, which is 5 times higher than the entire aviation sector’s emissions.
In 2022, the world wasted 105 tonnes of food — meaning 19% of all food available at the consumer level (retail, food service, and households) was wasted.
(Source – Drishti IAS)
FWIR 2024 did not have available data on India’s food service and retail-level food waste.
So when someone takes such baby steps, it’s like sprinkling water in scorching heat — it may seem small, but it provides relief while also making people conscious about not wasting food.
And after knowing all this, if you still see someone wasting food… you must call it out.
#Food #Waste #India #Hunger #Report #Global #UN #Crisis #Economy
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