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Stakeholder cooperation: A lesson from Denmark to combat food loss, waste
Denmark has made progress in tackling food waste and loss thanks to the collaboration between the government, private sector, civil society and consumers.
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A plate with food leftovers is seen at a wedding at a hotel in Jakarta on March 19, 2018. In the slums of Jakarta, Indonesia's poor are getting a taste of how the other half live, thanks to a new program that aims to take a bite out of its mammoth food-waste problem. (AFP/Adek Berry)
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ollaboration between the government, the private sector, civil society and consumers is necessary to tackle the problem of food loss and waste – a lesson Indonesia can learn from Denmark, one of the few countries in the world to have made progress in the fight against such waste.
Food waste has become a global problem, as one-third of the total food produced is wasted, according to the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO). The waste has caused 4.4 billion tons of carbon dioxide emissions, or 8 percent of the annual global emissions, worsening the climate crisis.
Indonesia and Denmark have been facing a similar problem. The 2017 Food Sustainability Index shows that about 300 kilograms of food is wasted per person in the Southeast Asian nation every year.
Meanwhile, the Danish government found that the Scandinavian country produces 703,000 tons of food waste every year, leading to 1.8 million tons of carbon dioxide emissions. But reports highlighted that Denmark has cut food waste by a quarter since 2010.
Such success is thanks to collaborative action by multiple parties in food production and consumption, an approach offered by ONE\THIRD, a Danish think tank under the Ministry of Environment and Food.
The organization’s work was part of the country’s effort to reduce greenhouse gas emissions from the food sector by 2030, said ONE\THIRD head of secretariat Anne Lerche.
“Reducing food waste and loss should play a significant role in climate strategy,” Lerche said on Friday during a Jakpost Spotlight webinar titled Combating food loss and waste: Lessons from Denmark and Indonesia.
