Combatting food loss and waste is a key component of the fight against climate change. Each year, 1.3 billion tons of food is wasted or lost. Oftentimes, when we think of food loss or waste, the socio-economic impacts of these phenomena typically come to mind, including people going hungry and economies being less productive. However, food waste or loss can be very destructive for the environment as well. They can negatively impact the environment and exacerbate global warming. This is because when food is allowed to spoil, it emits methane, a powerful greenhouse gas (GHG), which is released into the atmosphere.
Several factors contribute to food waste and loss. These include throwing away odd-looking produce and buying or cooking excessive amounts of food. Another key factor is the lack of proper storage facilities to prevent food spoilage, particularly in less developed countries where this infrastructure is not as robust.
Related: Tackling food waste in the U.S. no matter the season
Therefore, by improving food storage systems, we can aim to reduce hunger and limit factors that contribute to climate change. This is crucial for developing countries where much of the food waste and spoilage can be attributed to a lack of appropriate storage facilities.
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The consequences of food waste as a result of poor storage facilities
Health Impacts
As food moves from farm to table, it passes through various stages. Firstly, it is harvested and shipped to wholesalers. From this point, the produce can either be sent to grocery stores or to food processing companies to be prepped, including to be canned, packaged or frozen. Between these stages, the produce tends to sit for long periods.
Without maintaining a cool environment to store the produce, the food can begin to spoil or even be contaminated with bacteria. Which can cause food-borne illnesses if consumed.
For example, in Uganda, corn is grown by farmers who often lack the facilities to dry and store the produce. This leads to the produce being contaminated with fungi, which produce aflatoxins. These are harmful to human and animal health and can cause health problems like liver damage and even cancer.
Economic Impacts
Countries that lack adequate cold storage facilities are often subject to high economic losses as a result of spoiled produce. This is because foods like milk, fruit, vegetables, seafood and meats all are highly reliant on cold chains.
Estimates show that developing countries lose upwards of 23% of perishable products before the food even reaches markets. For instance, Ethiopia loses one-third of its stored corn within five weeks of harvest due to appropriate cold storage facilities. Similarly, India’s Ministry of Food Processing Industries estimated that the country lost 56 million tons of food in the year 2019. This was primarily due to a lack of cold chains to keep the food fresh. This excessive loss was estimated to have costed $10 billion! Through adequate cold storage facilities, these extensive food and monetary losses could have been prevented.
Environmental Impacts
When food is thrown away, it contributes to nitrogen pollution in local ecosystems. In aquatic environments, this can cause algae blooms and dead zones. Additionally, the yearly emissions from food waste account for 4% of GHG emissions worldwide. In fact, estimates show that if food waste were a country, it would be the third-largest emitter in the world. It would only fall behind China and the U.S.
Since the human population is increasing, agricultural production will need to increase by over 70% to meet nutritional needs. With this increase, there is likely to be a concurrent increase in food waste. If not managed appropriately, this will put further strain on the planet.
Sustainable cold storage in developing countries
In developing countries, one of the main reasons that food goes to waste is because of the lack of appropriate cold storage systems, which prevent food spoilage. However, this cannot just be solved by adopting traditional refrigeration systems. This is because this approach is not sustainable for developing countries in the long term.
Currently, most existing refrigeration systems release hydrochlorofluorocarbons (HCFCs) into the atmosphere. These are extremely potent GHGs, which are released into the atmosphere and contribute to global warming. These cold storage systems also tend to rely on fossil fuel energy sources, which also contribute to climate change. Therefore, adopting solar-powered cold storage systems would be economically and environmentally beneficial for minimizing food loss/waste.
Sustainable cold storage systems also offer social benefits, especially for women. Most food loss occurs during the harvest and post-harvest stages. In developing countries, these stages are primarily managed by women. In general, women often have less access than men to assets and financial resources. However, by supporting women in less-developed countries with facilities to manage food supplies, these women can maximize the products they sell without worrying about severe losses as a result of factors out of their control. Through this, they can earn more and consequently improve the quality of life of their families.
Solar fridge pilot projects
So far, pilots that introduce solar-powered cold storage systems into developing communities have shown promise. They have become a sustainable means of significantly reducing food loss for produce during the harvest and post-harvest stages.
One of the main regions where solar cold storage has been particularly impactful is sub-Saharan Africa. For example, in Northern Nigeria, a six-month pilot study introduced solar-powered cold storage systems for seven fruit and vegetable markets. This allowed the markets to preserve the quality of their food and even charge higher prices. In fact, the systems did so well that they generated $8,000 in net profits, allowing them to pay off the capital cost of the sustainable cold storage system within a decade, without harming the environment.
In Uganda, prior to the COVID-19 pandemic, dairy farmers in cooperatives invested in cold storage systems. This made them highly resilient to the commercial disruptions brought about by the pandemic, especially when compared to other food sectors like fish and fresh produce.
In communities where fish is a staple food, such as northwest Kenya and the Wakatobi islands in Indonesia, solar fridge pilot projects have also produced positive results. These infrastructure systems are environmentally and economically sustainable and allow communities to save money while dramatically reducing food losses.
The way forward…
By adopting solar-powered cold storage systems, particularly in developing countries, we can combat the social, economic and environmental effects of food waste and loss. This in turn can empower community members, especially women from low socio-economic backgrounds, without harming the environment and exacerbating the effects of climate change.
Via EcoWatch
Lead image via Pexels
