Food Waste Intelligence

Today, July 29, is Earth Overshoot Day. It’s a critically important day for everyone interested in advancing food waste reduction and ensuring a sustainable future. Earth Overshoot Day represents the point in the year where humanity’s demand for ecological resources (our collective ecological footprint) exceeds the Earth’s ability to supply them (biocapacity). The Global Footprint Network maintains the annual calculation of Earth Overshoot which has, unfortunately, been moving steadily forward (i.e. earlier in the calendar) over time....

Leanpath has long been dedicated to scaling food waste prevention. This is reflected in our mission – to make food waste prevention and measurement everyday practice in the world’s kitchens.

Words matter, and just as it’s important to distinguish between terms such as food loss, food waste, and excess food, it’s also important to distinguish between “recovery” and “prevention” -- because the initiatives and impacts are very different.

Food waste has received substantial global attention in the last 4-5 years, as well it should. Along with food waste, plastic waste is now the subject of enormous global focus – and deservedly so. As with food waste, the scale of plastic waste – and its environmental impact – is truly alarming. These twin challenges are linked: A great deal of plastic waste is related to food, and much of it ends up in landfills, rivers, and the oceans.

In a highly visible gathering at the USDA in Washington D.C. the U.S. government increased its focus on the food waste challenge, launching its “Winning on Reducing Food Waste Initiative” – headlined by the signing of a formal agreement by the leaders of the Department of Agriculture (USDA), the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), and the Food and Drug Administration (FDA).