10.3 million tonnes
Of food is wasted in South Africa each year, 80% of which is edible.
45%
Of food entering the food supply chain is lost or wasted.
Almost 20&
Of households experience moderate to severe food insecurity in South Africa.
8-10%
Of global greenhouse gases come from food waste globally, contributing to climate change.
Why End Food Waste?
More than a third of all food produced in South Africa is never eaten. An estimated 45% of food entering the food supply chain is lost or wasted, which is just over 10 million tonnes of food annually. 1
Food waste happens at every stage of the food value chain in South Africa:
Significantly reducing food loss and waste in South Africa has a positive humanitarian and social, environmental and economic impact. Whether you are passionate about people, taking care of the planet, running a successful and sustainable business or all three, get involved and experience the benefits of taking action to prevent and reduce food loss and waste.
Our vision is to reduce food waste in South Africa by 50% by 2030, in line with Sustainable Development Goal Target 12.3 https://sdgs.un.org/goals/goal12
We do this by adopting the food and waste utilisation hierarchy, which prioritises food waste prevention in the first instance, and secondly the redistribution of edible, nutritious surplus food for human consumption, and to enable secondary markets for surplus food.
We are identifying food surplus and waste management solutions that respond to a circular economy and sustainable food systems agenda.
Latest Resources and Publications
Food Business
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World-leading Research
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Industry-wide Change
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Who We Are
The South African Food Loss and Waste Initiative, led by the Consumer Goods Council of South Africa (CGCSA), aims to prevent and reduce food loss and waste by half by 2030. The initiative was launched on the 29th of September 2020, as an outcome of a series of dialogues that involved over 500 stakeholders in the South African food system. The initiative is supported by government, the Department of Trade, Industry and Competition (dtic) and the Department of Forestry, Fisheries and the Environment (DFFE).
Our Impact
Our Working Groups
These task-focused working groups serve as a vital platform for dialogue among our signatories and stakeholders. They concentrate on addressing common barriers to reducing food loss and waste, including developing best-practice guidelines to help the sector overcome these challenges.
Resource & Insights
We provide our signatories and stakeholders with a range of resources to help drive change across food businesses and the wider food system. These include openly available materials such as evidence-based research, case studies and business cases designed to inspire and leverage change.
In addition, core signatories gain exclusive access to tools such as the data reporting portal and food loss and waste reduction action plans, enabling them to measure, track and strategically reduce food loss and waste within their operations.
