Brazil is in 10th place among those that waste the most food in the world, according to data from the United Nations (UN). Every year, around 46 million tons of food are wasted, points out the Brazilian Institute of Geography and Statistics (IBGE), which represents 30% of all Brazilian production.
The scenario is even more worrying when compared to data from the federal government, which shows that, currently, 8.7 million Brazilians face severe food and nutritional insecurity.
“Hunger is a phenomenon caused by poverty, inequality and the way we organize this model of food production and distribution. But in this inconsistency that we experience, we see in reducing waste, in favor of combating hunger, a great potential for immediate relief from hunger”, says Maria Siqueira, director of public policies at the Pact Against Hunger, a movement created in 2023 to encourage the reuse of food with the help of technology.
The Pact connects companies that work with food and entities that need donations to provide free food to those who have nothing to eat.
This support network can start right at home. Food waste amounts to just over 40% of urban waste generated in Brazil. One of the ways to avoid this waste is composting, a simple process that turns food into fertilizer.
“Organic waste is our food scraps, which if they are sent for correct treatment, in this case, the one most recommended by the National Solid Waste Policy, is composting, these food scraps will be turned into fertilizer and this fertilizer later it will be used in agriculture or gardening”, explains Mariana Ferreira, project leader of the Pé de Feijão Program.
The compost collected by the program is taken to community gardens within the city of São Paulo and helps farmers.
“In addition to having good food, which is the vegetables that come from here, quality vegetables, we also know in our hearts that we are helping the universe”, says rural producer Sebastiana de Farias.
But a kitchen item needs a specific destination. Cooking oil cannot be disposed of in the general trash or poured down the sink.
To avoid this type of disposal, entities offer selective collection of material. The Triângulo Institute does the work in restaurants, bars and, little by little, expands the offer to homes as well. All the oil collected goes to the Institute’s factory and is transformed into soap.
“We need to create the interest of these houses in participating in campaigns like this. So, we contacted potential locations to be collection points for this oil. We provide a drum so that people who take the oil to the location have somewhere to put these bottles. We advise that the oil be delivered in PET bottles and we exchange this oil for homes with ecological soap”, explains Cláudia Florêncio, executive manager of Instituto Triângulo.
This content was originally published in Brazil discards 30% of the food produced, says the UN on the CNN Brasil website.
Source: CNN Brasil
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