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Brazil's push to end food waste
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At age 19, Regina Tchelly left her small hometown in north-east Brazil
and arrived in Rio de Janeiro with a dream: to become a famous chef.
When she got there, Tchelly, who was raised to never waste food, was
saddened to see how often street vendors threw away good food.
That set Tchelly on a new culinary path. She began taking home
discarded food from her work as a maid and created innovative recipes,
like banana peel gingerbread and broccoli stalk quiche. That
experience would eventually lead her to found Favela Orgânica. The
organization has taught thousands of low-income individuals, street
vendors and chefs how to waste less food, counter hunger and tackle
the often devastating environmental effects that come with food waste.
"There should be no such thing as throwing away," says Tchelly, now
42. "We're throwing away our planet. We need to change our behaviour.
We're in a climate crisis. Here, people learn how healthy food and
sustainable habits can benefit both our health and the planet."
Tchelly is part of a growing movement in Brazil to cut down on food
waste, which is quickly spreading around the world.
_Regina Tchelly, 42, has been driving a shift towards eliminating food
waste in Rio de Janeiro for over 13 years. Photo: Favela
Orgânica/Nathalie Ranzolin_
Globally, households waste over 1 billion meals every day despite as
many as 783 million people going hungry, according to the United
Nations Environment Programme's (UNEP) newly released Food Waste Index
Report 2024. Some 8 to 10 per cent of global greenhouse gas emissions
come from the production and decomposition of food that is ultimately
thrown away.
Brazil, the world's sixth-most populous country, produces some 20
million tonnes of food waste a year. Around 27 million people in the
country are considered food insecure, according to government
estimates. But through data collection, policymaking and
collaboration, the Brazilian government —from the federal to local
levels—and community groups are actively working to reverse course.
"Reducing food waste is not only essential to address food insecurity
but also to fight the triple planetary crisis of climate change,
nature and biodiversity loss, and pollution and waste," says Ruth
Zugman do Coutto, UNEP's Climate Change Mitigation Branch Chief. "With
an estimated 80 per cent of food to be consumed in cities by 2050, it
is crucial to engage local governments to take action on food waste.
We can make use of cities' dense urban networks to redistribute,
upcycle or recycle food and nutrients."
**Revamping the menu**
In 2010, Brazil established a national policy on solid waste, which
mandates that municipalities implement composting systems. However,
this legislation does not specify measures for preventing food waste.
Through collaboration with UNEP, non-profit organizations, and city
leaders, Brazil is developing a new national policy draft on food
waste reduction and composting. This is expected to enter into force
by the beginning of 2025. The policy will provide mayors and other
relevant stakeholders across the country with guidelines to reduce
food waste and implement composting projects.
Brazil is also developing its first national strategy on the circular
economy, which will include a focus on revamping food systems to
minimize waste in production, distribution and consumption.
"With the support of UNEP, we were able to understand that the federal
government needed to do something more integrated and highlight this
problem to everybody," says Adalberto Maluf, Brazil's National
Secretary for Urban Environment and Environmental Quality. "We are
wasting more than 22 per cent of our food. [Without action,] we are
never going to reach the targets of zero hunger."
_Reducing food waste and promoting sustainable consumption are key to
tackling food insecurity, experts say. Photo: Fotos Públicas_
**Locally sourced**
As the Brazilian government reimagines its approach to food waste,
Maluf says it is collaborating with a range of partners, including the
Brazilian Agricultural Research Corporation (Embrapa), a public
research agency affiliated with the country's Ministry of Agriculture.
Gustavo Porpino, an expert with Embrapa and contributor to the UNEP
Food Waste Index Report 2024, says eliminating food waste can have
far-reaching benefits.
"The food systems agenda has economic value, it has social value, it
has environmental value," Porpino says. "It can generate several
positive impacts."
With Brazil hosting this year's Group of 20 Summit and next year's UN
Climate Change Conference (COP30), Maluf says the country is keen "to
bring the compost and food waste debate to the circular economy
(discussion)" while also being "proactive on building the agenda to
reduce poverty".
Porpino adds that community leadership is critical to supplementing
government efforts. When discussing grassroots campaigns to counter
food waste, he singles out one organization for its standout efforts -
Favela Orgânica.
**Serving up change**
Back in Rio de Janeiro, Regina Tchelly lets out a hearty laugh when
talking about praise for the organization. "This is a place where we
don't work on competition but on cooperation. Here, we work on showing
that everyone is capable, that everyone helps each other."
Through Tchelly's leadership, Favela Orgânica provides workshops on
what she calls "alternative gastronomy": maximizing ingredient use,
promoting homemade composting and enabling urban gardening in small
spaces. These help community members rethink their relationship with
food and reduce waste.
The organization is currently training 160 women in the favelas of Rio
de Janeiro on urban gardening and the importance of a lifecycle
approach, ensuring that any leftover produce is returned to the food
chain.
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