Around the year 1800, one billion people lived on earth, a hundred years later 1.65 billion and again 50 years later already 2.52 billion. We can already see from these numbers that the population is growing faster and faster, but in contrast to today, these developments are still harmless. Currently, there are more than 7.8 billion people living on our planet, and about 157 more are added every minute.
According to forecasts, the world population will rise to 8.55 billion by 2030, and in 2050 we will reach the 10 billion mark. Leading scientists assume that a bomb will explode at this point at the latest, because the growing world population has a devastating impact on our environment. Resources are becoming scarcer and carbon dioxide emissions higher. These developments tell us more than clearly that we have to change and make our everyday life more sustainable in order to be able to counteract the growing population and resulting climate problems. Especially in the food industry, a change has to take place so that the population can be supplied in a sustainable and climate-friendly way. This change is already taking place and can be seen, for example, in the move towards plant-based foods that we have seen in recent years.
Plant-based products are intended to replace animal-based products, as about 70% of all greenhouse gases released in food production come from the production of animal-based foods. Each cow and cattle raised for human consumption produces several hundred liters of greenhouse gases every day. In addition, especially in view of the growing population, there must be a rethinking of the way food is handled, i.e. the waste of food must be reduced. If food waste were a country, it would rank third among the countries with the highest carbon dioxide emissions, because food waste generates 4.4 billion tons of greenhouse gases every year that end up in our atmosphere, even though we could prevent it.
More and more companies in the food industry are becoming aware of the problem and are investing in sustainability: sustainable resources, sustainable development and alternative foods. The goals of the investments include innovative technologies such as 3D printing, which are intended to compensate for the shortage of raw materials in the long run.
That's all well and good, but at LEROMA we feel it's hugely important to work on solutions that are already making a clearly visible difference today, so that we can counteract the problems that are inexorably coming our way.
Our solution is quite simply not to waste raw materials that have already been grown and harvested. In purchasing and logistics, as well as in production, the efficiency of food handling must be drastically increased, for example through processes that ensure a longer shelf life for food. Above all, however, we would like to emphasize the importance of
resource management.
Raw materials are continuously disposed of before they have even been processed, i.e. they do not make it past the beginning of the value chain and are not made available for human consumption from the outset. From harvesting to processing to packaging, hundreds of millions of tons of food are lost even before they reach the market. Waste is therefore not only caused by the consumer, but primarily at the beginning of the value chain.
Everyone has heard that about one-third of the food produced worldwide ends up in the trash, but the problem becomes even clearer when you look at waste by category. An estimated 50 million tons of fruits and vegetables never reach the supermarket shelf each year, often because they don't conform to standard sizes or shapes, or already have minor blemishes such as bruises and brown discoloration. For example, 30% of all bananas in Germany are discarded even though they are still suitable for consumption! At the very least, they could be processed into juices or powder, which can be used in the production of milkshakes and baby food, for example. Another example is fish. Every third fish caught worldwide spoils or falls victim to bycatch, in which marine animals are caught in nets that are not the actual target of the catch. This bycatch is only partially utilized, the rest is thrown back into the sea, usually severely injured or already dead. And this despite the fact that fish oil, for example, is in high demand in the pharmaceutical industry.
Raw materials are therefore disposed of by companies because they are left over and can no longer be processed before the expiry of the best-before date or because they were purchased incorrectly. The so-called waste hierarchy defines how raw materials must be handled so that natural resources are conserved as much as possible. The least desirable option when dealing with food waste is, of course, disposal/dumping in landfills. However, as we have just illustrated, this option is unfortunately still very often resorted to.
There are companies that do not want to sell their surplus to the competitor because they think that they will spoil the market and they prefer to dispose of the raw materials instead of giving them to someone else for a cheaper price, even if the other company is from a developing country and cannot afford the raw material at the original price. They forget that it is not only the money they lose, but also the carbon dioxide emissions that result from the disposal of the raw materials, not to mention the resources such as water and land that were put into their production. Every banana, fish and bag of flour produced leaves an
environmental footprint. Combined, food waste accounts for about 8% of global greenhouse gas emissions. The elbow mentality must be urgently abandoned to enable sustainable resource management and to ensure that the needs of the growing population can be met in the future.
In addition, we would also like to continuously contribute to the reduction of food waste in the form of projects, such as the Lowinfood Project, and create awareness for this enormously important issue. We at LEROMA would also like to stimulate the industry with new partners and projects that deal with the reuse of raw materials and residual materials. If you are interested in working with LEROMA, please feel free to contact us. We are very happy to hear from you.