Danish Minister calls to action on new National Day of Food Waste
The Danish government has launched September 29 as national Day of Food Waste to reduce food waste in Denmark.
More than one third of all food produced in the world ends up in the trash, and in Denmark that happens to 700.000 tonnes of editable food every year. It is burdening for the environment and the climate. To reduce food waste in Denmark the Danish Minister of Food has therefore launced a new National Day on September 29th to address the issue.
“Food production, distribution, consumption and disposal uses a tremendous amount of energy and water which leaves a significant carbon footprint on the planet. Therefore we have to act now and this battle requires all of us – Me and you, our neighbours and friends, and I hope this day will inspire us all to fight climate change and waste less food”, Mogens Jensen says.
Take action
One third of the food loss and waste in Denmark strains from Danish households. A large number of NGO’s, food businesses and authorities is therefore marking the day with different events to raise awareness on how consumers can reduce the food waste. Mogens Jensen will visit some of these events.
Awareness around the world
The Danish Food Waste Day is the same date as UN’s International Day of Awareness of Food Loss and Waste, which calls on all countries to accelerate actions on prevention and reduction of the enormous food loss and food waste that occurs globally.
Danish embassies around the world is also supporting the new national day and a number of Danish food companies are working eagerly to innovate and develop products and solutions to reduce food loss and waste throughout the food value chain.
Mogens Jensen hopes this will serve as an inspiration for the rest of the world: “Fighting food loss and food waste requires big efforts from all countries around the World. Danish companies see great opportunities to collaborate on this matter. My sincere hope is that we can strengthen the collaboration across nations so we together can convert this global challenge into an opportunity”, Mogens Jensen says.
Mogens Jensen is among others part of the international Champions 12.3 initiative that works to accelerate actions to achieve the SDG 12.3 on food loss and waste. The coalition is operated by World Resources Institute.
You can see the greeting from Mogens Jensen, Minister for Food, for the occasion of the International Day of Awareness of Food Loss and Waste here
Source: Ministry of Environment and Food of Denmark