International Day of Zero Waste Celebration | Towards Zero Food Waste Through Multistakeholder Action

About this Event

Our planet is drowning in waste, fueled by unsustainable production and consumption. Globally, 2.1 billion to 2.3 billion tonnes of municipal solid waste are generated yearly – from packaging and electronics to plastics and food. If current trends continue, we will generate 3.8 billion tonnes annually by 2050, according to the Global Waste Outlook 2024. Poorly managed waste can leach chemical pollutants into the soil, decreasing plant growth and productivity and contaminating water sources. It can also accumulate in the food chain and alter reproductive functions in wildlife and humans.

Food waste is a major driver of the triple planetary crisis of climate change, nature and biodiversity loss, and pollution. Billions of tonnes of waste, from food to plastics, are mismanaged each year, harming people and the planet. Globally, food loss and waste generate 8–10 per cent of greenhouse gas emissions. This is almost five times more than the aviation sector, while 783 million people go hungry. A zero-waste approach is key to sustainable production and consumption, towards building a sustainable future for all.

To celebrate the 2026 edition of International Day of Zero Waste, leading voices from Geneva and beyond who joined the panel of this event highlighted steps taken to move forward the zero-waste agenda and key initiatives to reduce food waste. Geneva is a major global hub for the governance of hazardous substances and home to numerous international, intergovernmental, non-governmental and business organizations aiming at reaching the zero-waste goal, including in the food sector.

Zero waste starts on our plates!

About International Day of Zero Waste

On 14 December 2022, the United Nations General Assembly adopted a resolution at its seventy-seventh session to proclaim 30 March as International Day of Zero Waste, to be observed annually. Türkiye, with 105 other countries, put forward the resolution. It follows other resolutions focused on waste, including “End plastic pollution: towards an internationally legally binding instrument”, adopted at the United Nations Environment Assembly on 2 March 2022.

The United Nations Environment Programme and the United Nations Human Settlements Programme (UN-Habitat) jointly facilitate the observance of International Day of Zero Waste. Member States and stakeholders are invited to engage in activities aimed at raising awareness of national, regional and local zero-waste initiatives and their contribution to achieving sustainable development.

Promoting zero-waste initiatives through this international day can help advance all the goals and targets in the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, including Sustainable Development Goal 11 and Sustainable Development Goal 12. These goals address all forms of waste, including food loss and waste, natural resource extraction and electronic waste.

This year’s International Day of Zero Waste emphasizes the need for action in the food sector to reduce waste and advance circular solutions.

Speakers

H.E. Emine ERDOĞAN

First Lady of the Republic of Türkiye, Chair of the UN Secretary General’s advisory board of eminent persons on zero waste (Video Message)

H.E. Amb. Burak AKÇAPAR

Permanent Representative of Türkiye to the UN Office at Geneva and other International Organizations in Switzerland

Arnold KREILHUBER

Director, Europe Office, UNEP

Nourou Macki TALL

Senior Liaison Officer, Geneva Liaison Office, FAO

Rolph PAYET

Executive Secretary, Basel, Rotterdam and Stockholm Conventions

Elisabeth TUERK

Director, Economic Cooperation and Trade, UNECE

Sophie BRUCHEZ

Programme Manager, Environmental Sustainability, ISO

Graham ALABASTER

Chief Geneva Office at UN-Habitat | Moderator

Highlights

Video

Summary

Welcome

Graham ALABASTER | Chief Geneva Office at UN-Habitat | Moderator

• We are convening today because, in December, at the initiative of the Government of Türkiye, Member States adopted a resolution at the United Nations General Assembly proclaiming 30 March as the International Day of Zero Waste, to be observed annually.
• UNEP and UN-Habitat jointly facilitate the observance of this international day.
• This is now the fourth celebration, both here in Geneva and around the world.
• As Geneva is a major hub for global governance, and home to several international organizations and multilateral environmental agreements aimed at tackling waste and pollution, we could not miss the opportunity to bring together key stakeholders involved in these different processes to discuss this year’s theme on food waste and how we can move this agenda forward.
• After opening statements and messages for this event, we will hear from leading voices here in Geneva on the steps being taken to advance the zero waste agenda, including how zero waste starts on our plates and key initiatives to reduce food waste.

Inger ANDERSEN | Executive Director, UNEP

Anacláudia ROSSBACH | Executive Director, UN-Habitat

Opening Remarks

H.E. Amb. Burak AKÇAPAR | Permanent Representative of Türkiye to the UN Office at Geneva and other International Organizations in Switzerland

• We are extremely pleased to organize this edition of International Day of Zero Waste in collaboration with UNEP Europe Office, UN-HABITAT, and the Geneva Environment Network.
• We have prominent speakers with us today from various organizations which show us the cross-cutting nature of the waste issue.
• Today the world produces more than 2.6 billion tons of municipal waste every year. If current trends continue, this amount may reach 3.9 billion tons by 2050. These are stark numbers that show the gravity of the issue.
• Waste pollution threatens human health, causes large-scale economic losses, and places enormous burden on ecosystems. It also exacerbates climate change, biodiversity loss, and pollution. For this reason, zero waste approaches are becoming relevant more than ever for achieving sustainable development.
• These approaches focus on preventing waste, using resources more efficiently, and supporting circular economy solutions.
• Türkiye has been at the forefront to place the zero waste firmly on the international agenda and has encouraged stronger global cooperation in addressing the waste crisis.
• The national initiative of Türkiye under the auspices of the First Lady, Her Excellency Emine Erdogan, has become a truly global movement with the adoption of the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) resolution establishing the International Day of Zero Waste. This day is a valuable opportunity to raise awareness worldwide about the waste crisis and its environmental, social, and economic impacts while promoting sustainable consumption and production patterns.
• This year’s International Day of Zero Waste focuses on food waste, one of the most pressing yet preventable global challenges.
• As the video messages have shown, every year around 1 billion tons of food are wasted, which is equivalent of almost one third of all the food available to consumers. This is especially worrying at a time when hundreds of millions of people around the world increasingly face hunger and food insecurity.
• Therefore, reducing food waste is not only an environmental challenge, but also moral and socioeconomic imperative.
• The striking situation shows that the way we produce, consume, and manage our resources must change.
• Food loss and food waste create around 8 to 10% of global greenhouse gas emissions. It produces one of the very strong green greenhouse gases – methane.
• For this reason, it is safe to say that reducing food waste is one of the fastest and most effective ways to reduce emissions while also making food systems more resilient and sustainable.
• Türkiye believes zero waste approaches must be considered an integral component of climate action. Hence, zero waste will be among the priorities of Türkiye’s COP31 presidency later this year.
• Reducing food waste is an area where we can make real progress in a relatively short time. In this sense, the COP in Antalya this year should not be seen only as an intergovernmental platform negotiation with the sincere engagement of all stakeholders. The COP is an also is also an opportunity to promote practical and achievable solutions that can deliver tangible benefits for both climate action and sustainable development.
• And today we once again remind the international community that solving the waste problem and addressing the climate change challenge requires joint action.
• Türkiye remains committed to working with all partners to advance zero waste approaches to support transition towards more sustainable and climate resilient societies.

Keynote Speech

H.E. Emine ERDOĞAN | First Lady of the Republic of Türkiye, Chair of the UN Secretary General’s Advisory Board of Eminent Persons on Zero Waste (Video Message)

• Distinguished ladies and gentlemen, dear young people and children, we are delighted to celebrate the fourth anniversary of the “International Day of Zero Waste” together.
• We have set this year’s theme as food waste because 673 million people worldwide are struggling with hunger today.
• More than 2 billion people lack access to adequate and balanced nutrition. One in every twelve people lives under the risk of chronic hunger. For this reason, we want us all to recognize the ripple effect behind every piece of food we throw away.
• Together, we must put an end to this course. By doing so, we can stand in solidarity with our brothers and sisters who live on the brink between hunger and death in Africa, Asia, Gaza, and many other regions of the world.
• It is a heartbreaking reality that nearly half of all deaths among children under five worldwide are caused by hunger. Countless children depart this world before having the chance to grow or enjoy a single beautiful day.
• Yet, by saving merely a quarter of the food wasted globally, we could put an end to hunger worldwide.
• Across the globe, 2.3 billion tons of food equivalent to 5.8 trillion meals are lost each year without ever being consumed. In every waste bite lies the right of someone whose life depends on it. It also holds the echoes of the cries of those suffering from hunger and thirst in war zones.
• Let us not forget that all of humanity bears the cost of food loss and waste. Food loss and waste account for 8 to 10% of global greenhouse gas emissions.
• According to the Food Waste Index Report, about 60% of the food wasted occurs in households. This shows that, with just a little mindfulness, awareness, and small adjustments to our behavior, we can effectively stop this massive waste.
• As a matter of fact, our experience with Zero Waste Project we launched in 2017 has demonstrated that behaviour change is the most powerful environmental and climate policy.
• In other words, a responsible action can grow into a ripple of good, spreading to embrace all humanity and nature. For example, by simply preventing even a single piece of fruit from going to waste, we avoid wasting the water, energy, and human effort invested in its cultivation. At the same time, we allow nature to renew itself while contributing to the reduction of environmental pollution and greenhouse gas emissions.
• So let us join hands. Let us protect our kitchens from becoming centers of waste and instead transform them into places of gratitude for the blessings we have. Above all, let us never forget that abundance grows when we appreciate its value and let us stand shoulder to shoulder to build a just world where no child goes hungry.

Arnold KREILHUBER | Director, Europe Office, UNEP

• It has already been said that we are facing globally a growing waste challenge which is essentially linked to unsustainable production and consumption. And while it is a global challenge we have heard the numbers already – we’re looking currently at between 1 to 2.3 billion tons of municipal waste each year – it is also very much a local challenge because local governments, cities and communities will have to deal with a possible increase by 2050 to 3.8 billion tons.
• What this also means is that food production and consumption is very heavily geared towards cities. % of all food consumption is expected to take place there. This is an added emphasis to the excellent partnership that UNEP has with UN Habitat and other organizations in shining a light on this problem and making sure that food waste, as this year’s zero waste day, encourages us to highlight how it is addressed at global but also at the local level where it impacts people the most.
• Food waste exacerbates food insecurity and weakens resilience at a time of global instability and not to tackle food waste is also an economic opportunity lost. It simply makes no economic sense.
• Food loss and waste costs the global economy around 1 trillion dollars every year, while the alternative organic version for example creates value jobs local business opportunities. It therefore makes good sense to tackle food loss and food waste.
• This year’s theme is also an opportunity to highlight the connection between food systems and the triple planetary crisis, but also between hunger and malnutrition, and realizing these opportunities for economic prosperity that lie before us.
• By reducing food waste, countries and communities can ease climate stresses, protect limited resources, and reinforce food system stability.
• We have already heard the impact that food waste has in terms of greenhouse gas emissions in terms of methane emissions and so avoiding food waste upstream also eliminates emissions from production, transportation, refrigeration, and disposal. It helps us to make the entire food chain more sustainable.
• As already been mentioned, COP is a unique opportunity to position today’s theme at this major international negotiation that takes place later this year in Antalya.
• Reducing food waste can also boost food security, livelihoods, and environmental stability.
• What do we need to do to make this happen? We need to:
  • Embrace innovation.
  • Foster circular economy approaches in agrifood systems.
  • Encourage reduce, reuse, and repurpose food waste.
  • Change consumer behavior.
  • Look at date labeling reform to reduce the confusion between what is best before and what is the difference to use by labels.
  • Embrace digital tools and data systems.
  • Make sure that surplus food reaches those that need it – surplus food that remains safe for consumption should be redirected to people rather than wasted.
  • Reduce food loss across the supply chain – in many economies this is a better investment that simply producing more food.
  • Invest in cold chain storage infrastructural, rural transport, and market access – all of which can make a dramatic difference as we try to address food loss.
  • Transform how we manage organic waste through upcycling valorization and better market integration of products stemming from organic waste valorization.
• These approaches need to have an inclusive and gender-responsive approach. As this theme encourages us to reflect upon this transformation, let me repeat again that this transformation starts on our plates.

Graham ALABASTER | Chief Geneva Office at UN-Habitat | Moderator

• We’ve all heard about the statistics that by 2050, 70% of the world will live in urban space. So perhaps one statistic which you don’t hear so often is that about 60% that urban space that will exist in 2050 has yet to be built.
• When it comes to managing urban space we have to think about existing urban space bearing in mind the inequities we know exist in many countries and cities around the world.
• We also have to very carefully plan for that future urban space to ensure it’s sustainable in the long term.
• Waste management overall is one of the most critical issues because it’s usually falls to the responsibility of local authorities. It has severe environmental impacts if not dealt with.
• One of the many reasons we suffer so much was still living with a legacy of poor waste disposal is because large amounts of food waste were originally landfilled and are busily producing methane at this moment. It’s a very difficult issue to manage that methane from existing landfills without investing lots of money. There really is a moment now where we have to think very clearly about how we’re going to move forward not just in managing the existing urban space but also how we plan for future urban space.
• It’s estimated you know that municipal waste is going to hit about 3.8 billion n tons by 2050.
• The idea of educating people to understand waste reduction is a key component of how we manage this work.
• The Waste Wise Cities program work and the indicators are an example of a long-term partnership we’d had with UNEP because when we were working out how to monitor the SDG for waste which as you fall which falls across several of the SDGs – the part for waste management sits in SDG 11, the part for recycling sits in SDG 12 – so we worked very closely together with UNEP to develop a monitoring system to support the member states to ensure we put a good baseline in place for monitoring waste management.
• It was one of the SDGs that we do have a good understanding and the data but of course we do have to go a bit further as we move forward.
• We’ve also been working very closely to advocate for zero waste cities and I’m happy to say that there are some zero waste cities already around the world which have put in place management practices to reduce waste by significant amounts as part of the five strategies for overall waste management.
• The other very important issue about zero waste is its impact on the informal economy and in particularly the informal sector workers. Recycling and reuse creates up to 200 times more jobs than landfilling of This an area that we can focus on in the future – we can promote in some informal sector employment to tackle these zero waste problems not just with food waste with other streams of wastes.
• Moving forward we know that it is very clear whatever comes after the SDGs, we hope that waste management will be critical to that.
• All of us need to work together both at national level but also at city level to understand how we put these good practices in the ground into practice and to make waste models and bring circularity down to the operational level.
• We can’t waste a moment. The march of urbanization is going ahead very fast.
• We have a opportunity to impact on that now and to make a big change.

Nourou Macki TALL | Senior Liaison Officer, Geneva Liaison Office, FAO

• This year’s focus, food waste, goes to the heart of the global challenges we face. At a time when nearly 800 million people experience hunger globally, the world continues to waste approximately one billion tones of food each year. This is not only a moral failure, but also an environmental and economic disaster.
• Agrifood systems are a space of many opportunities, and there are many that could be achieved through reducing levels of food loss and waste.
• We know that about 13 percent of global food production is lost from post-harvest up until retail and then 19 percent of food is wasted at the household, retail, and food-service levels.
• Reduction of food loss and waste is increasingly recognized as a catalytic lever for agrifood systems transformation, due to its potential to deliver co-benefits across multiple sustainability dimensions – from climate change mitigation and biodiversity conservation to improved nutrition, livelihoods, and economic resilience.
• Reflecting this, following the United Nations Food Systems Summit in 2021, 91 of the 129 countries that submitted national food systems pathways identified the reduction of food loss and waste as a priority area, underscoring its strategic importance and cross-cutting relevance.
• But no actor can make these important changes on their own. Reducing food loss and waste requires a true multistakeholder approach – it is the responsibility of us all.
• From farmers and producers to retailers, consumers, policymakers, and international organizations – each of us has a role to play. While solutions must be adapted to local contexts, the commitment must be global.
• At FAO, addressing food loss and waste is a central pillar of our efforts to transform agrifood systems, making them more efficient, inclusive, resilient, and sustainable for better production, better nutrition, better environment and better lives.
• We have the knowledge. We have the tools. What we need now is to accelerate implementation and scale up solutions.
• Our work begins with measurement. Through the Food Loss Index, FAO monitors losses from post-harvest up to, but not including, retail. This helps countries identify where losses occur and take targeted action. Complementing this, UNEP tracks food waste at the retail and consumer levels through the Food Waste Index. Together, these tools provide a comprehensive global picture and a basis for action.
• Also, under the co-leadership of FAO and UNEP, the so called “Food is Never Waste Coalition” was launched as part of the 2021 UN Food Systems Summit process. It aims to halve food waste by 2030 and to reduce food losses by at least 25%.
• Building on our 130 country offices network, FAO also supports countries in implementing practical solutions across the entire food supply chain. We work closely with governments to develop policies and strategies that incentivize reduction. For instance, FAO supported the Government of Türkiye, in the developed of the National Strategy and Action Plan for the Prevention, Reduction and Monitoring of Food Loss and Waste, and co-led the “Save Your Food” movement.
• Partnerships and collaboration across silos are essential to address the interconnected drivers and impacts of food loss and waste. One important global effort is the – co-founded by FAO – SAVE FOOD Initiative which brings together governments, the private sector, research institutions, and civil society to drive coordinated action.
• Also, in collaboration with the Global Food Banking Network and Danone, FAO conducted a global survey of more than 500 stakeholders to document innovative practices in food recovery and redistribution.
• On this International Day of Zero Waste, let me also evoke the fact that FAO co-organizes the celebrations of the International Day of Awareness of Food Loss and Waste (observed on 29 September) established by the UN in 2019, which promotes action to meet SDG Target 12.3 to halve per capita food waste by 2030.
• If we act decisively, we can transform a system that currently wastes resources into one that values them. We can ease pressure on our planet while improving food security and nutrition for all.
• Therefore, let’s coordinate our efforts and renew our commitment – not only to reduce waste, but to build a future where food is respected, valued, and shared.

Rolph PAYET | Executive Secretary, Basel, Rotterdam and Stockholm Conventions

• Our focus this year on food waste calls us to act together with agency, innovation, and shared purpose.
• Tackling food waste is not rocket science. When one thinks of the 1.3 billion tons of food waste of which our households contribute 60%, it is not difficult to see where our focus should be.
• What we face today is not an inevitability but a choice and opportunity to save money and scarce resources and to prevent roughly one fifth of methane emissions, a gas that is some 84 times more potent than carbon dioxide.
• As we prepare for COP 31 in Antalya, Türkiye let us recognize that food and organic waste are not isolated issues – they intensify pressures on agriculture, water resources, biodiversity, and are powerful contributors to climate change.
• Now is the moment to marshal our diplomatic influence, align policy and finance, and make waste prevention a central pillar for resilience, regenerative food systems, and climate mitigation.
• As mentioned in SDG target 12.3, the world is committed to halving per capita food waste by 2030. With four years to go, are we going to achieve this target?
• This generation carries both responsibility and influence. We can do more than just celebrate the day.
• We can catalyze transformation. We can align trade, aid, and development policies with embedded circular principles. We can share technologies, best practices and mobilize finance for prevention, and environmentally sound management of food waste.
• The Basel Convention has long championed prevention and minimization of waste. Its work shows that international frameworks and treaties can shift norms away from end of pipe fixes towards systems that focus on the life cycle and prevent waste in the first place.
• The Convention’s public private partnerships demonstrate how governments, businesses, civil society, academia, and the youth can convert knowledge into practical solutions – from improved collection and segregation to sustainable treatment and safe disposal.
• Since 2027, the Household Waste Partnership has provided technical guidance, capacity building, and peer learning that help countries reduce waste at source and recover value from organic materials. These are the kinds of cooperative platforms we must expand and deepen.
• There is no single silver bullet, but there are proven, scalable solutions that deliver rapid results. Here are a few:
  • Prevention and behavioral change, smarter procurement, better storage
  • Consumer awareness can reduce waste before it is even created
  • Separation of source and simple systems that keep organics out of landfills and can cut methane emissions quickly
  • Composting and aerobic digestion, technologies that not only reduce emissions and waste but can turn nutrients and moisture into soils, tackling land degradation as well as producing renewable energy
• Investing in these measures yields immediate climate, biodiversity, and land degradation benefits, as well as strengthens food systems, creates jobs, and protects public health.
• Progress begins with leadership. I urge you to champion policies that prioritize prevention, incentivize circular business models, and unlock finance for local solutions.
• Today, there are many platforms available where we can share innovations, harmonize standards, and support capacity building for countries with the greatest needs.
• Engage your ministries of agriculture, trade, finance, climate, and environment in a common strategy. Empower cities and municipalities as well as communities with the tools and resources to act. Elevate youth and civil society as partners in the design and delivery of this strategy. As you know, where public policy meets private ingenuity transformation follows.
• In closing, let me say that zero waste is not a demand for perfection; it is a commitment to continuous progress. Every policy we pass, every system we design, every household we inspire moves us closer to a future where resources are efficiently used, waste time is minimized, and nature is restored.
• Let us leave this special session today with resolved more boldly to cooperate generously and lead with the conviction that a zero-waste future is not only necessary but also simple.

Elisabeth TUERK | Director, Economic Cooperation and Trade, UNECE

• It is a great pleasure for me to be here and to show what UNECE can contribute with concrete normative tools.
• UNECE is a normative organization where we set standards, guidelines, and soft tools that can create this behavioral change that we have been talking about.
• I will provide two tools from the agricultural sector, looking at the behavior change at the agricultural value chain level.
• Much of the food loss already happens along the agricultural production chain, and this happens in activities such as production, harvest, transport, and retail.
• We have to see how it can shape what economic actors do along the value chain already before the food reaches the table where we wish to eat it.
• In the UNECE agricultural quality standards, there are about 100 of these quality standards. We look at fresh fruit, dried and dried produce, meat and seed potatoes, and all of them have different food loss aspects.
  • If we think about fresh produce, for example table grapes, the issue really is in the handling and in the cooling of the fruit.
  • If you think about the dry and dried produce like dried figs and dates, the nuts, then the issue and the challenge lies in the storage and in the moisture issues.
  • When you think about the meat, it’s the cold chain technology.
  • When you think about the seed potatoes, an important crop for nourishing the world, it is very much about the health of the plant and of the seed.
• This is where the UNECE standards come in. It is important to mention for the countries in the room, the UNECE quality standards do not only offer an opportunity for the UNECE member states to engage, to shape them, and to use them, but also globally. We have many countries engaged in our standards that are not in the UNECE region but global.
• I will give you two concrete examples; one is potatoes – a standard that was just adopted last week – and the other is table grapes.
• Starting with potatoes, we know that they are very important for combating hunger.
  • They are the fourth most important food crop globally.
  • Potatoes are quite sensitive because the losses can be very high – it can be up to 30% if we have pests or disease in the potatoes.
  • The issue is how to preserve seed quality because poor quality of the seeds leads to lower yields, higher losses, and subsequently lower waste along the value chain.
  • This is where the standard that was adopted last week comes in – called the UNECE Standard for Seed Potatoes. It ensures healthy and certified seeds. It helps reduce the spread of disease and it helps improve the plant health and productivity, which in turn brings higher yields, smaller losses in the field and in storage, and a better potato quality that helps us ensure potatoes reach the supermarket and ultimately your household.
• The second example, table grapes, have a standard that has not yet been adapted and is still in production with member states still negotiating it.
  • Grapes are typically transported in plastic packages. So what can we do here? We can ensure, and this was a proposal by South Africa that was tabled in in the last meeting, that if you want to market a table grape as class one, the current option is to have one big grape and only one small grape in it.
  • But we could change that and say it’s one big grape and maybe two or three of the smaller grapes to fill the form of the plastic container and to not waste all these grapes that have been cut off the big grape.
  • This is a very mundane and practical example but this is the type of issues that member states delegations negotiate in the UNECE platform and we’ll see where the negotiations go and whether this standard for the packaging of table grades will be adopted.
• In addition to standards, UNECE have a number of publications and guides, codes of good practices and measuring modalities.
• We also engage on important issues such as innovation, infrastructure, financing – all of which can help us stand shoulder to shoulder, as the First Lady said, when it comes to look at this important issue of reducing food loss and trying to create concrete impact on the ground.

Sophie BRUCHEZ | Programme Manager, Environmental Sustainability, ISO

• International standards are vital to tackle food loss and waste as they will help organizations move from ad hoc initiatives to systematic measurable improvements that are independently verifiable.
• ISO is a not-for-profit organization made up of 173 national standards bodies. These are the officially recognized entities in each country who come together to create international standards in the ISO system, and these standards are developed through an open transparent and consensus-based process.
• ISO has a portfolio of over 25’000 standards across a wide range of sectors and touching on a vast array of environmental issues.
• International standalization process is open to all of you in this room.
• I will speak about one specific ISO technical committee and forthcoming standard relevant to today’s discussion.
• ISO has a committee working specifically to address food loss or waste which involves different countries at the moment and eight international organizations.
• The committee is managed by Danish standards and is chaired by Mr. Goodyer of the UK.
• The committee is nearing completion of a standard known as ISO food loss and waste management.
• The standard is intended to provide organizations across the food value chain with a structured globally organized framework to systematically reduce food waste and loss throughout the food supply chain.
• The future standard ISO aims to respond to increasing regulatory and stakeholder expectations, address the economic and environmental impacts of food loss and waste, and support global sustainability goals.
• The requirements of the standard are intended to be applicable to all organizations in the food supply chain regardless of size and complexity.
• The standard will be certifiable, which means that documentation can be verified through third party certification as part of the consultation phase.
• The draft standard was tested by different organizations across countries. The feedback from this pilot has now been collected and will feed into the final standard for publication later this year.
• ISO is a management system standard which follows an established harmonized structure making it easier for companies to integrate and implement multiple standards at once.
• The pilot showed that companies are already implementing other ISO management system standards.
• Typically, ISO on environmental management or on food safety are far more likely to adopt future ISO.
• Once published, ISO is expected to help organizations improve their operational efficiency and reduce costs, support compliance with emerging food waste regulations and policies, and strengthen transparency and credibility in communication with customers, authorities, and other stakeholders.
• In addition to the ISO technical committee on food loss and waste, ISO is also working on two other international standards on monitoring and reporting and on audit requirements. If you’d like to know more or get involved, uh more detailed information is available on ISO.org and you can search for the committee the numbers on the screen or the standard itself.
• The international standard standardization process is open to national stakeholders through your national standards bodies and international stakeholders through the ISO process. For example, on today’s panel UNEP, FAO, UNECE and UN Habitat all have ISO basal status already.

Documents

Presentations made during the event

Links

• Zero Waste Day Official Website
• Food Waste Breakthrough
• Achieving Zero Waste and the Role of Geneva
• Food Loss and Waste and the Role of Geneva