Food Waste Is Heating Up the Planet

Every crate of food we rescue for people in our communities is a win for people and the planet.

We know food waste is a problem in our warming world – but just how big a problem?

The global Food Waste Index Report 2024 compiled by the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) found that a fifth of food at consumer/retail stage is wasted – and globally this adds up to over a billion tonnes! This is in addition to 13 per cent of food loss that the FAO estimates between farm/production and retail.

Here in Aotearoa, New Zealand households waste about 80 kilograms of good food every year, which adds up to tossing out around $1,364 worth of good kai. (Take a look at which foods are the most wasted.)

Every time food is wasted, we are also squandering the resources that went into producing it – water, land use, energy, transport and labour. For every 1 kg of food rescued, 636 litres of water is prevented from being wasted – equivalent to taking 10 showers! (Based on data from ReFED). Globally, 70% of the Earth’s precious freshwater reserves are used for agriculture.

Wasted food is heating up our planet – here’s why that matters

Between 8-10% of global greenhouse gas emissions are estimated to come from wasted food. This is five times more than global aviation industry.

When wasted food ends up in landfill, it decomposes in anaerobic conditions (without oxygen). This process releases methane (CH₄) – a greenhouse gas that’s over 80 times more potent than carbon dioxide (CO₂) over a 20-year period. That’s a big deal.

According to the UNEP, cutting methane is one of the most effective strategies to slow global heating in the short term. Tackling food loss and waste is a low-hanging fruit for climate action (pun intended!).

How can we measure the climate impact of food rescue?

At Kaibosh, we use a standardised CO₂ equivalent to measure the environmental impact of food we rescue. That means we can compare the climate benefit of stopping food waste and diverting food food from ending up in landfill, against other emissions-reduction activities – like taking cars off the road or planting trees. It’s a powerful tool for climate accountability. 

Want to dig deeper into methane and food waste? Check out Reuters’ brilliant visual explainer: 📰 “The Other Greenhouse Gas”

Every crate counts🌱

At Kaibosh, every food business we can partner with and every crate of kai we rescue is a win for people and the planet! Wasting good food is a missed chance to nourish people in our communities.

By redistributing surplus food to those who need it, we’re:

✅ Preventing potent methane emissions

✅ Saving the valuable resources used to produce food

✅Reducing food insecurity in our communities

✅ Supporting a fairer, low-waste food system

What you can do:

We all need to eat and we can all play a part in reducing waste and advocating for change. Here are a few tips – choose a couple that fit in with your life or in your household:

• Eat what you buy – love your leftovers
• Learn energy saving cooking – slow cookers can save you $ too
• Eat from roots to shoots – cook all the parts
• Compost, don’t bin, your scraps
• Buy local produce, or join a co-op
• Grow your own food, or help a community garden
• Support food rescue groups like Kaibosh
• Advocate for change – food scraps curbside collection, more locally grown kai
• Spread the word – food waste is a climate issue and we can all play a part in reducing waste and valuing kai

Together, we can turn the tide on food waste, boost our local kai resilience, and take a real bite out of climate change.

Learn more:

Read more about food systems in Aotearoa, impacts of climate change and community resilience in our blog from mid 2025 with a panel of food system experts and change makers.

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