Limbah Makanan: Dalam Angka

Foto oleh Oreeko

Data-data berikut ini dihumpun dari beragam sumber. Untuk menghindari kesalahan penerjemahan saya biarkan datanya dalam bahasa Inggris. Sebelum membaca postingan ini lebih lanjut ada baiknya kita cari tahu dulu tentang definisi limbah makanan menurut Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) di link ini.

Sudah paham? Sekarang bacalah setiap data baik-baik, jangan lewatkan satupun atau saya sumpahi kamu kesusahan dapat makanan!

Waste: Uncovering the Global Food Scandal (2009)

1. There are nearly one billion malnourished people in the world, but the approximately 40 million tonnes of food wasted by US households, retailers and food services each year would be enough to satisfy the hunger of every one of them
2. If we planted trees on land currently used to grow unnecessary surplus and wasted food, this would offset a theoretical maximum of 100% of greenhouse gas emissions from fossil fuel combustion
3. 10% of rich countries' greenhouse gas emissions come from growing food that is never eaten
4. The UK, US and Europe have nearly twice as much food as is required by the nutritional needs of their populations. Up to half the entire food supply is wasted between the farm and the fork. If crops wastefully fed to livestock are included, European countries have more than three times more food than they need, while the US has around four times more food than is needed, and up to three-quarters of the nutritional value is lost before it reaches people's mouths
5. UK Households waste around 20% of all the food they buy
6. All the world's nearly one billion hungry people could be lifted out of malnourishment on less than a quarter of the food that is wasted in the US, UK and Europe
7. A third of the world's entire food supply could be saved by reducing waste – or enough to feed 3 billion people; and this would still leave enough surplus for countries to provide their populations with 130 per cent of their nutritional requirements
8. 2.3 million tonnes of fish discarded in the North Atlantic and the North Sea each year; 40 to 60% of all fish caught in Europe are discarded – either because they are the wrong size, species, or because of the ill-governed European quota system
9. An estimated 20 to 40% of UK fruit and vegetables rejected even before they reach the shops – mostly because they do not match the supermarkets' excessively strict cosmetic standards
10. 4600 kilocalories per day of food are harvested for every person on the planet; of these, only around 2000 on average are eaten – more than half of it is lost on the way
11. 24 to 35% of school lunches end up in the bin

Natural Resources Defense Council & US Department of Agriculture

1. Food waste in the United States is estimated at roughly between 30-40% of the food supply, more than 20 pounds of food per person per month, the equivalent of $165 billion each year
2. In 2010, an estimated 133 billion pounds of food from U.S. retail food stores, restaurants, and homes was wasted, valued at almost $390 per U.S. consumer in 2008, more than an average month's worth of food expenditures
3. Getting food to our tables eats up 10% of the total U.S. energy budget, 50% of U.S. land, and 80% of freshwater consumed in the United States
4. Uneaten food ends up rotting in landfills where it accounts for almost 25% of U.S. methane emissions
5. The average American consumer wastes 10 times as much food as someone in Southeast Asia, up 50% from Americans in the 1970s

Food and Agriculture Organization

1. Every year, consumers in rich countries waste almost as much food (222 million tonnes) as the entire net food production of sub-Saharan Africa (230 million tonnes)
2. Food wastage's carbon footprint is estimated at 3.3 billion tonnes of CO2 equivalent of GHG released into the atmosphere per year
3. 1.4 billion hectares of land - 28 percent of the world's agricultural area - is used annually to produce food that is lost or wasted
4. Developing countries suffer more food losses during agricultural production, while in middle- and high-income regions, food waste at the retail and consumer level tends to be higher  in middle and high-income regions -where it accounts for 31-39 percent of total wastage- than in low-income regions (4-16 percent)
5. Direct economic consequences to producers of food wastage (excluding fish and seafood) run to the tune of $750 billion annually
6. 8% to 26% of rice is lost in developing nations, on average, every year, because of post-harvest problems and poor infrastructure

Kementerian Lingkungan Hidup

1. Sekitar 49,3% makanan didatangkan dari luar daerah dan import. Kondisi ini tentunya akan memberikan dampak bagi lingkungan seperti meningkatnya emisi gas carbon dan metana dari buangan alat transportasi
2. Sisa sampah organik terutama makanan hanya 2,2% yang dikomposkan, selebihnya dibuang dan menjadi beban lingkungan yang terus bertambah

Belum banyak data yang bisa kita temukan mengenai limbah makanan di Indonesia. Tapi kita bisa ambil contoh sederhana berikut ini: jumlah penduduk negara kita kurang lebih 250 juta, anggap saja semuanya mengonsumsi tiga piring nasi setiap hari. Jika setiap orang menyisakan sebutir nasi dari setiap kali makan maka nasi yang terbuang adalah 750 juta butir per hari! Beberapa sumber mengatakan dalam setiap 1 kg karung beras terdiri dari -kurang lebih- 50000 butir beras. Dengan perhitungan kasar, 15 ton beras terbuang setiap hari (berakhir menjadi sampah). Itu kalau setiap orang menyisakan sebutir setiap kali makan, kalau lebih? Silakan hitung sendiri!