The United Nations General Assembly has designated 29 September as the International Day of Awareness of Food Loss and Waste. The goal is to raise awareness to the importance of the problem and its possible solutions at all levels, and to promote efforts and collective action towards halving per capita global food waste at the retail and consumer levels, and reducing food losses along production and supply chains by 2030, as per the targets of the Sustainable Development Goals.

Organic waste that ends up in landfills is a significant contributor to climate change. When this waste breaks down in the landfill mass, it creates landfill gas. This gas, made up primarily of methane, has been shown to have a global warming potential approximately 25 times higher than carbon dioxide.

However, while these emissions are the primary concern of the City’s Urban Waste Management Directorate, waste of food also has serious broader implications for food security. An estimated 14 percent of the world’s food is lost between harvest and retail, and an estimated 17 percent is wasted in retail and at the consumption level. This comes at a time when 811 million people on earth go hungry.  As a result, the City of Cape Town has been stepping up efforts to address food security in recent times. A Food Systems Programme has been developed by the Resilience Department to map City food mandates, improve scenario planning for food-related shocks and enhance networking among stakeholders. This programme includes Urban Waste Management’s efforts to reduce waste.

Urban Waste Management actions aimed at reducing food waste and associated emissions include, but are not limited to:

Currently all businesses in Cape Town are being required to update their mandated integrated waste management plans by 31 October 2022, to reflect how they will reduce their organic waste (including food waste they produce) that is sent to landfill by 50% before the end of the year, and 100% by 2027. All restaurants, hotels and other businesses that produce organic waste are required to comply.

 The City is also tackling organic waste that has already been disposed of at our landfills by establishing infrastructure that can safely extract and convert landfill gas to Carbon Dioxide, a far less harmful greenhouse gas, before it enters the atmosphere, or even burn this gas to create electricity. See here, here, here and here for details

Provided 22 495 home composting containers, and counting, to residents across the metro, free of charge. The City also offers tips to anyone wishing to start their own organic waste diversion and composting at home – a home composting container is not a necessity for this. Composting food waste at home not only reduces the impact of organic waste, but also feeds your soil and results in a healthier, more productive garden. Residents with a garden/outdoor space for a composting container/heap can find information here: https://bit.ly/3vIMK7J

The City is also investigating various ways to work with informal traders to separate and compost their food waste so that it doesn’t end up in landfills (see current trial being carried out in Langa).

The City’s waste recyclers map shows the location and contact details of private drop-off sites and organic waste collectors operating in Cape Town.

Finally, the planned Coastal Park Integrated Waste Management Facility will include some kind of facility that can separate organic waste from the general waste stream and beneficiate this organic matter. The exact design of this system must still be concluded however the intention to develop such a project represents a major step forward for the City’s waste management.

‘Reducing Food Waste is one of the most impactful climate solutions normal residents can implement in their own homes and businesses. As the world’s population continues to grow, our challenge should not be how to grow more food, but how to reduce food waste sustainably. The City is stepping up efforts to implement new technologies and infrastructure that can help reduce food waste, but we need citizens and businesses to also please play their part,’ said Mayoral Committee Member for Urban Waste Management, Alderman Grant Twigg.

The United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization has drawn up a list of useful tips residents can follow for reducing food waste. The City encourages all residents to incorporate these tips into their daily lives.

Source: City Of Cape Town