Voluntary Agreement (VA) is a collaboratively agreed, self-determined pact to take action on food waste generated at the relevant stages of the food system. This cooperation approach has been adopted in several countries like the United Kingdom, USA, Mexico, South Africa, Australia, including Indonesia. The GRASP 2030 (Gotong Royong Atasi Susut & Limbah Pangan di 2030) is a voluntary agreement initiated by the Indonesia Business Council for Sustainable Development (IBCSD).

The growing global population will raise a significant demand for food. Ironically, around one-third of the food produced is lost or wasted. Saving the food and preventing it from being wasted can help as much to secure people access to food.

There are several actions that can be taken to manage the surplus food rather than being wasted. The US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has established the Food Recovery Hierarchy to show prioritized actions to prevent FLW in sequence.

In 2021, BAPPENAS (National Development Planning Agency) conducted a study on food loss and waste (FLW) in Indonesia. The study captured the FLW generation in Indonesia including its following impacts.

Circular economy is defined as an industrial model designed to be regenerative and restorative, aiming to extract the maximum value from resources by keeping them in circulation as long as possible and by recovering them at the end of their service life within a system. The implementation of a circular approach in the food and beverage industry can reduce the generation of food loss and waste and other significant benefits to the economy and the planet.

If we want to get serious about tackling food waste, we need to increase efforts to measure food and inedible parts wasted at retail and consumer level and track food waste generation in kilograms per capita at country level. Only with reliable data, we are going to be able to track progress on Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) target 12.3, which aims at halving per capita global food waste at the retail and consumer levels and reducing food losses along production and supply chains, including post-harvest losses.

The United Nation Environment Programme (UNEP) has published the Food Waste Index Report 2021. The Food Waste Index Report aims at supporting the goals of SDG 12.3 by presenting the most comprehensive food waste data collection, analysis and modeling to date, generating a new estimate of global food waste, and publishing a methodology for countries to measure food waste, at household, food service and retail level, to track national progress towards 2030 and to report on SDG 12.3.

The report estimates that food waste from households, retail establishments and the food service industry totals 931 million tonnes each year. Nearly 570 million tonnes of this waste occurs at the household level. The report also reveals that the global average of 74 kg per capita of food wasted each year is remarkably similar from lower-middle income to high-income countries, suggesting that most countries have room to improve.

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The FLW Value Calculator (in beta test version) creates a snapshot of the impacts related to the loss and waste of different types of food. With this knowledge you can demonstrate how your efforts to prevent food loss and waste provide nutritional and environmental value.

The calculator, created by Quantis as part of WBCSD’s FReSH program and with input from World Resources Institute, also provides insights that can be used when considering which food loss and waste streams to prioritize. It can be used to compare and contrast the environmental and nutritional impact of various actions to reduce food loss and waste.

The calculator complements the Food Loss and Waste Accounting and Reporting Standard as it enables you to describe and convey the scale and relevance of food loss and waste in terms that may be more meaningful for some audiences than weight.

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Food Loss and Waste Accounting and Reporting Standard (or FLW Standard) is developed by the Food Loss & Waste Protocol (FLW Protocol), a multi-stakeholder partnership with mission is to develop an internationally accepted standard and associated tools, and to promote their adoption so entities are better informed and motivated to take appropriate steps to minimize FLW.

The FLW Standard provides requirements for countries, companies, and other entities to use in accounting for and reporting on FLW. It also includes guidance, resources, and examples to assist in the use of the standard.

Upon publication in 2016, the FLW Standard included “biodiesel” in the “bio-based materials / biochemical processing” destination because this destination is focused on material converted to industrial products. However, in 2021, following consultation with the FLW Protocol Steering Committee, and based on discussions with a range of food businesses and food experts, it was agreed that all material which leaves the human food supply chain and is in the end burned for energy should be treated equally. In recognition that material converted into a biofuel product (such as biodiesel or solid-fuel pellets/bricks) has added value, the guidance is to report such materials under the ‘other’ destination.

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A significant amount of the food produced globally is never eaten (Flanagan et al. 2019). This food loss and waste (FLW) squanders the energy, resources, and money that went into producing, processing, packaging, and transporting the food. Given that the food system contributes around a quarter of the greenhouse gases (GHGs) emitted globally (Searchinger et al. 2019), reducing the amount of food lost or wasted is an important contributor to reducing GHG emissions and slowing down climate change. Linking the reduction of FLW to its potential for reducing associated GHG emissions is one powerful way for companies to highlight the value of FLW reduction, in addition to other significant business and societal benefits.

This publication from FLW Protocol enables companies across the food supply chain, particularly those calculating GHG inventories and setting science-based targets, to:

• better understand and connect FLW reductions with their efforts to reduce GHG emissions;
• calculate and communicate the climate benefits of FLW reductions; and
• link those benefits to their GHG inventories and science-based GHG reduction targets.

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One-third of the food produced for human consumption is lost or wasted in between the harvesting process and consumption process1 , which is known as food loss and waste (FLW). Each year, FLW on a global scale contributes to approximately 4.4 gigatons of greenhouse gas emissions2 . In 2015, FLW issue became part of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) contained in target 12.3, stating, “By 2030, halve per capita global food waste at the retail and consumer levels and reduce food losses along production and supply chains, including post-harvest losses”3 . As a country that agrees upon the global development agenda, Indonesia has committed to mainstreaming SDGs’ goals, targets and indicators in the Medium Term National Development Plan (RPJMN) 2020-2024.

As an initial step in the transformation of FLW management in Indonesia, BAPPENAS, supported by the Foreign, Commonwealth, and Development Office, United Kingdom, conducted a Study of Food Loss and Waste in Indonesia. This study has identified baseline data on FLW for the last 20 years and its environment, economy, and social impact and provided recommendations of sustainable FLW management strategies in Indonesia.

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