A research team from Ritsumeikan University, Nagasaki University, the University of Tokyo, and Kyushu University has succeeded in being the first in the world to clearly show how much food waste and greenhouse gases are potentially being generated in Japan by each generation and due to their specific eating habits.
Food waste, or "food loss," is food that is still edible but is thrown away. It occurs at various locations and stages, including food production, transportation, and sales, but the amount generated by households in Japan accounts for nearly 50% of the total. The tendency for household food waste is common in developed countries, including Japan, but the detailed structure and causes of generation have not been clarified.
Based on the authors' previous research and life cycle analysis (LCA), the research group developed a new method to analyze food waste in Japanese households and the structure of greenhouse gases generated in the process of eating food, from raw materials to wholesale, focusing on differences in the eating habits of households based on the attributes of the household head.
As a result, the main sources of household food waste were vegetables, mainly cabbage, and fruits such as bananas, which accounted for nearly half of the total. The main sources of related greenhouse gas emissions were vegetables, cooked foods, seafood, and meat, with prepared foods, beef, and bread other than white bread being particularly prominent.
Additionally, the amount of food waste per person is increasing the older the household, with the youngest being 29 years old or younger at 16.6kg/person, and the oldest being 70 years old or older at 46.0kg/person, a difference of about 2.8 times. Regarding the average greenhouse gas emissions per person, the largest was the household in their 60s (about 90kg-CO2e*/person).
The results of this study suggest that if current eating habits and food waste rates continue, household food waste will only decrease slightly, even if the population declines in the future due to a declining birthrate and aging population. Therefore, it is important to take more rigorous measures that focus on differences in eating habits between age groups.
Paper information:[Nature Communications] Curbing household food waste and associated climate change impacts in an aging society
