From the “scrappy cooking” movement to rescue apps that save money and divert perfectly good items from the garbage can, food waste is a hot topic. As the findings of the recently released UN Food Waste Index Report 2024 make clear, just because we’re aware of the problem doesn’t mean it’s going away.

A third of the world faces food insecurity, yet, at the same time, one-fifth of all food goes to waste — and it’s not just a “rich country” problem. According to the report, which tracks the progress of countries halving food waste by 2030, most of the world’s food waste comes from households where at least one billion meals are thrown away every day.