This Action aligns with the following Calls to Action from the Circular Economy Action Agenda for Food:

4. Better Understand Hotspots of Food Loss and Waste

5. Integrate Food Loss and Waste More Broadly in the SDG Agenda

6. Increase Investment in Food Loss and Waste Reduction

10. Increase Information Accessibility and Data Utilization 

“To fight food waste, we need a united movement and we believe that the setup of our think tank could serve as an inspiration for other countries and industries.”  

- Anne Lerche, Head of Secretariat, ONE\THIRD 

Project location 

Denmark 

Leading partner 

ONE\THIRD, a think tank operating as an independent organization under the Danish Ministry of Environment and Food. 

Ambition behind ‘Denmark against food waste’ 

Short-term: Unite Danish food producers and retailers behind the commitment to halve the country’s food waste by 2030. 

Long-term: Showcase a model for successful cross-sector collaboration to solve social-environmental challenges in Denmark and around the world. 

Food loss and waste in Denmark and around the world 

Across the global food chain, more than one third of food is lost or wasted. This amounts to 1.3 billion tons of food wasted globally and 700.000 tons of food being thrown away in Denmark every year. 

This has several consequences for our planet, humanity and our global economy: 

• Resource use: Globally, 1.4 billion hectares of agricultural land and 250km3 of water are used to produce food that is lost or wasted. 

• Hunger: The food lost or wasted globally could be used to feed 2 billion people. 

• Climate change: The global carbon footprint of food waste is estimated at 3.3 billion tons of CO2 equivalent of GHG annually. In Denmark, the annual carbon footprint of food waste is estimated 2,3 million tons of CO2. 

• Economic value: Around the world, food worth $940b is lost or wasted every year.  

How ‘Denmark against food waste’ prevents food loss and waste 

'Denmark against food waste’ is a voluntary agreement that unites 25+ food producers and retailers behind a shared mission: to halve food waste by 2030.  

This is their plan of action: 

• ONE\THIRD identifies partners across the food chain in relevant Danish regions. 

• The organizations sign a voluntary agreement to measure their progress on reducing food waste and report it to a neutral third party. 

• The members of the voluntary agreement co-develop a methodology and metrics to measure food waste reliably. 

• The applicability of the measurements is tested.  

• ONE\THIRD publishes a yearly report on general progress on preventing food waste and loss in Denmark. 

• ONE\THIRD explores possibilities to replicate the model in other regions or industries. 

Partners 

Aldi, Alfred Pedersen & Søn ApS, Appetize+, Carletti, Carlsberg Danmark, COOP, Dragrofa, Danish Crown, Hørkram, Jespers Torvekøkken, Kohberg, McDonalds, Meyers Madhus, Naturmælk, Nemlig.com, Nestlé, Orkla, Peter Larsen Kaffe, Regionshospitalet Randers, Salling Group, APPLiA, Bispebjerg og Frederiksberg Hospital, Chr. Hansen, Daka Danmark, Dansk Industri, Dansk Erhverv, Eachthing, eSmiley, FødevareBanken, Folkekirkens Nødhjælp, Horesta, Landbrug Foedevare, Rema 1000, Stop spild lokalt, Stryhns, Stop Spild Af Mad, Danmarks Restauranter & Cafeer (DRC), De Samvirkende Købmænd, Aarstiderne, Arla, Danish Region Hovedstaden, Local Government Denmark (KL). 

This Action aligns to the following Calls to Action from the Circular Economy Action Agenda for Food: 

4. Better Understand Hotspots of Food Loss and Waste

5. Integrate Food Loss and Waste More Broadly in the SDG Agenda

6. Increase Investment in Food Loss and Waste Reduction

7. Reframe Wasted Food and Byproducts as Valuable Resources

8. Facilitate Secondary Market Development and Access

10. Increase Information Accessibility and Data Utilization 

“We believe reducing post-harvest food loss is a flywheel to driving sustainable change in the Kenyan food system.”  

- Fennie Lansbergen, Director East Africa at Enviu 

Location 

Kenya 

Leading partner 

Enviu, a foundation that designs and builds innovative ventures that drive the transition towards tomorrow’s economy. 

Ambition behind FoodFlow 

Short-term: Showcase a professional 0% loss fruit & vegetable chain for the domestic market in Kenya.  

Long-term: Enable third party businesses to scale proven concepts throughout East Africa to create an inclusive commercial value chain and increase farmer’s resilience. 

The African fruit and vegetable market 

The African fresh-food system needs to become more sustainable. 

• Smallholder farmers: lack of access to technology, knowledge about farming practices, commercial markets, and financial products 

• Food loss: more than 40% of fruit- and vegetables is lost post-harvest 

• Trading chain: poor logistics and too many traders in the chain 

Context

In East Africa almost half of all fruits and vegetables are lost on their route to market. This has consequences, it means farmers can't earn a real living, that there isn't enough nutritious, affordable food and both resources and carbon emissions are being wasted on food that never makes it to market. To feed the growing population, the amount of food reaching the market needs to see a 60% increase by 2050.

Our FoodFlow program creates a showcase value chain for French beans, mangos and avocados by developing the technology needed to drive out post-harvest losses and create a flourishing value chain for all. Our ambition is to build a value chain made up of sustainable, circular business models, achieving 0% post-harvest loss, increasing incomes and improving food security. The goal is to grow this showcase chain to other crops and regions throughout East Africa and beyond. Joining forces with the group of food experts within the PACE network and building on their successes, failures, skills, technologies and network, will immensely help to realize the envisioned change.

Plan of action 

FoodFlow is currently integrating four key interventions in one value chain for French beans, mangos and avocados. These interventions are developed and tested in the chain, in order to scale at a later stage.  

• SokoFresh – An agritech start-up piloting mobile cold storage as a service at farmgate for aggregation of produce. They work together with the local governments of the counties Murang'a, Kitui, Kajiado and Kiambu, which provide them with land to use. 

• Taimba – A mobile-based platform scaling the farm to fork concept. They buy produce from farmers, sell it to small retailers online, and deliver it directly to their stores. 

• Processing as a service for the smallholder farmer (in development). 

• Online market linkage, to directly link farmers to larger buyers (in development). 

Project Partners

Enviu, Rabobank, IKEA Foundation, UKAID, Doen Foundation, and RVO (Rijksdienst voor ondernmened Nederland), Argidius 

This Action aligns to the following Calls to Action from the Circular Economy Action Agenda for Food: 

4. Better Understand Hotspots of Food Loss and Waste

5. Integrate Food Loss and Waste More Broadly in the SDG Agenda

6. Increase Investment in Food Loss and Waste Reduction

7. Reframe Wasted Food and Byproducts as Valuable Resource

Location

Global

Ambition

The 10x20x30 Food Loss and Waste Initiative aims to inspire ambition, mobilize action and accelerate progress toward achieving the UN Sustainable Development Goal Target 12.3 by 2030.

Project description

The 10x20x30 Initiative was launched by Champions 12.3 to bring together 10 of the world’s biggest food retailers and providers, each engaging with 20 of their priority suppliers to halve rates of food loss and waste by 2030. Each of the food retailers, providers, and suppliers has committed to the "Target-Measure-Act" approach: set a target of reducing food loss and waste in their own operations by 50%, measure and publish their food loss and waste inventories, and take action to reduce their waste.  

The effort catalyzes a “whole chain” approach to fighting food loss and waste and supports upstream food loss and waste reduction.

Objectives

• The 10x20x30 participants are encouraged to report publicly their food loss and waste baselines; 

• The 10x20x30 participants receive training and are the object of case studies to highlight their efforts; 

• The Coalition seeks to bring more companies to engage in the Initiative and join other global companies to create a multi-stakeholder approach to reducing food waste. For this reason, one of the objectives is to involve new participants in a “Phase 2” to increase trainings 

Partners

World Resources Institute, AEON, Ahold Delhaize, Carrefour, IKEA Food, Kroger, METRO AG, Pick n Pay, The Savola Group, Sodexo, Tesco, Walmart

This Action aligns to the following Calls to Action from the Circular Economy Action Agenda for Food: 

2. Scale Productive and Regenerative Agriculture Practices

4. Better Understand Hotspots of Food Loss and Waste

7. Reframe Wasted Food and Byproducts as Valuable Resources

Location

Global

Led by

The Ellen MacArthur Foundation, an international charity, committed to the creation of a circular economy that tackles some of the biggest challenges of our time, such as climate change and biodiversity loss. Driven by design, a circular economy eliminates waste and pollution, keeps products and materials in use, and regenerates natural systems, creating benefits for society, the environment, and the economy. 

Long term ambition

The Ellen MacArthur Food Initiative seeks to create unstoppable momentum towards a regenerative food system based on the principles of a circular economy.

Context

• The linear food system is ripe for disruption. While the industrial food system has generated many benefits, it is also highly extractive and wasteful, proving to be unfit to feed the world in a way that is healthy both for people and natural systems in the long term

• The circular economy offers a vision for a food system fit for the future

• Cities can trigger a shift to a better food system. Businesses, public bodies, organisations, and people within cities can accelerate the global transition to a healthy, regenerative food system underpinned by circular economy principles

Objectives

• Mobilise a cross-sector public-private stakeholder consortium to realise the circular model for food in cities around the world

• Illustrate the vision with a number of city demonstrator projects

Project description

The Ellen MacArthur Foundation's Cities and Circular Economy for Food report has highlighted the often-underappreciated role urban food actors can play to drive food system transformation. It demonstrated that using the catalytic potential of cities to spark change can be a powerful addition to the landscape of efforts needed to transform our relationship with food, highlighting that now is the time to make it happen. The Food initiative is activating unprecedented collaboration to mobilise the vision laid out in the Cities and Circular Economy for Food report. 

Partners

Ellen MacArthur Foundation, Unilever, Veolia and Yara International, Danone, Nestlé, Mizkan, Novamont, Mava Foundation, Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation, DOEN Foundation, and Porticus (Philanthropic partners), The cities of Sao Paulo, New York, and London (Strategic Partners and demonstration cities), Google (Knowledge partner)