Every year a third of the food produced worldwide is lost or wasted. More or less 1.3 billion tonnes of food that “goes missing” along the production chain, but also all those products which, although suitable for human consumption, are not used despite having reached the distributor or end consumer. A crate of bananas that falls off the truck transporting them, for example, or a batch of jam that has been incorrectly packaged. Items whose expiry dates have passed or even overly-generous portions in restaurants or on our dining tables, the leftovers of which regularly end up in the bin.
By salvaging even just a quarter of this food we could feed 870 million hungry people (data: FAO). And that is without forgetting that food waste is accompanied by a waste of the resources (water, land, energy, labour and capital) needed to produce it and a needless increase in greenhouse gases, one of the main triggers of global warming.
Without beating around the bush, reversing this trend is a priority.
Technology is without doubt one of the tools available to farmers, producers, entrepreneurs, restaurateurs and also consumers. Using it in a targeted way to develop a new relationship with food can, in many cases, represent the key to preventing and recovering waste and, more generally, making savings.
Waste prevention: smart packaging
Because of their fast rate of deterioration, fruit and vegetable products, including root vegetables and tubers, are wasted more than any other food product at global level. As a result, there are numerous solutions designed to slow down this process.
One of the most interesting projects is the use of a kind of protective membrane with a special form of permeability. Invisible and edible (it is obtained from vegetable skin and seed extracts), this “film” is able to retain water inside the fruit, combating its natural dehydration, and keep oxygen and microorganisms out, protecting it against oxidation and deterioration. In this way bananas in the fruit bowl or at the supermarket will last almost twice as long.
Other studies seek to develop active, smart packaging which, as well as being able to guarantee the longer life of food, is also equipped with systems for monitoring its status along the distribution network. “Plasters” on packaging that perceive changes in the composition of the content and change colour when the food begins to spoil, for example, but also more sophisticated sensors, genuine microchips that are able to “speak” (through RFID technology for example) with devices that enable operators to get organised and manage the products in good time.
Optimising consumption: 3D printing
Imagine going into the kitchen and, rather than opening the fridge and beginning cooking, leaving everything to a 3D printer which, by touching a button on a screen, is able to prepare the food we want, in the right quantity, in real time. The right number of biscuits, for example, or the right amount of bread, pasta or pizza. This could be another successful strategy, at least for some categories of foods (and consumers), for addressing the problem of food waste.
And what if we used coffee grounds, orange peel, bean pods and potato peel as the basis for creating new biodegradable, zero-cost objects? Considering that it would otherwise be thrown away, and given that 3D printers are increasingly popular (with a consequent increase in the volume of resins and plastics), why not try recycling food waste as a raw material for 3D printing? Before being biodegraded these substances could be used as containers, decorative objects or in some other way, reducing the consumption of materials with a greater environmental impact.
Management 2.0
As well as packaging and 3D printing, digital technology is also doing its bit to combat food waste. Different companies in Silicon Valley and elsewhere see the sector as an excellent investment opportunity, so much so that technology development in this area is now worth several billion dollars. Examples includes increasingly complex management software that is able to manage and streamline the production or distribution chain. Or smart fridges (or other domestic appliances) that constantly monitor products, preventing them from going bad and stopping us from mistakenly buying items that we already have.
No less interesting are the experiments in the social environment. One of the most accessible is the product of an Italian start-up: an app, Last Minute Sotto Casa, that connects store owners and potential customers in real time, enabling the former to get rid of food close to its expiry date before it is too late and the latter to take advantage of offers while contributing to reducing waste. A small “contribution” that in any case can help create greater awareness and acknowledgement of the problem.