Public Service Announcement for Yokohama City

18th October 2023

This week’s edition is on ‘Food Loss and Waste Reduction Month’

October is ‘Food Loss and Waste Reduction Month’.

Reducing food loss and waste is a universal issue that is also an SDG.

In Yokohama City, it’s estimated that around 18,000yen’s worth of food per citizen is uneaten and thrown out each year.

But the cost of food waste doesn’t stop there. Also wasted is, of course, the energy used to dispose of the food, as well as all of the energy used up until that point, including in the production of the food, and the fuel used to transport it. And the consumption of all this energy is one of the causes of global warming.

So food loss and waste must be reduced to protect the Earth’s environment too.

We can all play a part in reducing waste. For example, when shopping, are there times when you end up buying too much, just because something is cheap? It feels good to pick up a bargain or an item that’s on sale at a discount, but it’s all for nothing if it just gets left to rot! Let’s do our best to buy only what we need.

Also, when eating out, do you end up ordering too much? It is said that over half of the food waste from restaurants consists of what customers leave on their plates. Ordering only what can be finished, and enjoying eating it, will put a smile on everyone’s faces, be they consumer or restaurant worker.

There is a lot of action we take in our daily lives, so let’s each of us do what we can bit by bit to make a difference!