#MoveTheDate
13
Days
If we cut food waste in half worldwide, we would move Overshoot Day 13 days.
What is the solution?
Reduce food waste at each step of the food supply chain by using tax rebates to encourage suppliers to donate and distribute food that would otherwise go to waste.
This solution improves our resource security in the food category.
How does it #MoveTheDate?
Half of the Earth’s biocapacity is used to feed us. Moreover, the UN Food and Agriculture Organisation estimates that one third of food produced for human consumption is lost or wasted. If we cut food waste in half worldwide, we could move overshoot day 13 days.
How is it scalable?
Similar legislation exists in other countries such as France’s Loi Garot, but many countries are without this kind of legislation.
What is the solution?
Reduce food waste at each step of the food supply chain by using tax rebates to encourage suppliers to donate and distribute food that would otherwise go to waste.
This solution improves our resource security in the food category.
How does it #MoveTheDate?
Half of the Earth’s biocapacity is used to feed us. Moreover, the UN Food and Agriculture Organisation estimates that one third of food produced for human consumption is lost or wasted. If we cut food waste in half worldwide, we could move overshoot day 13 days.
How is it scalable?
Similar legislation exists in other countries such as France’s Loi Garot, but many countries are without this kind of legislation.
In August 2016, Italy passed a law that aims to keep 1/5, or 1 million tonnes, of the food typically wasted out of landfills. Rather than penalizing suppliers for wasting food, the law uses tax rebates to encourage that food be donated to charities. The law incentivizes suppliers at all levels of the food supply chain, from agricultural producers to supermarkets.
Italy isn’t the only country to have passed such laws. Also in 2016, France introduced legislation designed to cut the national food waste in half, eliminating 5 million tonnes of food from landfills by 2025. The legislation makes it illegal for supermarkets with a surface area of more than 400 m2 to dispose of food that is still perfectly safe for consumption. Instead, they must donate unwanted food surpluses to at least one non-profit organization who serves the underprivileged.
Following Italy and France, Spain is the next EU country in line tackling food waste through legislation (beginning in January 2023).
Learn more about Food-based solutions here.
There’s no benefit in waiting!
Acting now puts you at a strategic advantage in a world increasingly defined by ecological overshoot. Countless solutions exist that #MoveTheDate. They’re creative, economically viable, and ready to deploy at scale. With them, we can make ourselves more resilient and #MoveTheDate of Earth Overshoot Day. If we move the date 6 days each year, humanity can be out of overshoot before 2050.