Launch of Consumindful Initiative, A Call to Eat Wiser and Prevent Food Waste

The issue of food waste generation is a problem that is often underestimated. In fact, food waste generation from consumption activities is significant. The Consumindful initiative with the slogan “Eat Wiser, No Leftover” is a step taken by the Indonesia Business Council for Sustainable Development (IBCSD) as an effort to contribute in reducing food waste. The project was initiated by IBCSD together with WRAP and GRASP 2030 with the support of the Danish Embassy in Indonesia.

“The Consumindful initiative is expected to further encourage positive behavior of the community and industry to reduce food waste and cultivate food donations,” said Indah Budiani, Executive Director of IBCSD in her remarks at the Consumindful launch event which took place in Yogyakarta, April 4, 2023. 

The Consumindful launch event marks the beginning of a movement to invite the public to participate in reducing food waste in Indonesia. This movement is expected to amplify the message to a wider audience to be wiser in consuming and not wasting food. Spreading the message of the importance of reducing food waste is considered important, because Indonesia experiences economic losses of 4-5% of total GDP due to food shrinkage and waste problems based on Bappenas data in 2021.

“There is an SDG target to reduce food waste at the retail and consumer level by 50%. Meanwhile, on average in Indonesia, food waste production per individual per year reaches 1-2 quintals per year according to Bappenas data,” said Nita Yulianis as Director of Food and Nutrition Vigilance at the National Food Agency in her keynote speech delivered at this event. She continued, “Integrative and collaborative efforts are needed to reduce food waste production in Indonesia.”

Changes in consumer behavior related to food waste reduction are necessary, as it is known that the majority of food waste is generated from consumption activities. Therefore, Consumindful’s campaign strategy is to encourage consumers to prevent food waste at the household level. The Consumindful initiative is in collaboration with WRAP, a UK-based non-profit environmental organization with experience working on projects related to consumer behavior change. “WRAP is excited to be working with IBCSD again to tackle food shrinkage and waste in Indonesia. Consumindful is an exciting project to support mindful consumption and realize a sustainable future for people and the planet,” said Michael Jones, WRAP’s International Partnership Manager.

The Consumindful initiative is also made possible by the support of the Danish Embassy in Indonesia. “Changing people’s habits to reduce food waste is a difficult thing to do, so innovative approaches are needed to make it happen. The collaboration of IBCSD and WRAP can create a small but impactful strategy through the Consumindful initiative with the support of the Danish Embassy,” said Hanne Larsen, Minister Counsellor for Food and Agriculture at the Danish Embassy in Indonesia. 

Consumindful is a follow-up initiative to an earlier initiative called GRASP 2030 (Gotong Royong Atasi Susut dan Limbah Pangan 2030) which was launched on September 8, 2021. GRASP 2030 is a concrete effort to unite all actors across the food system chain in reducing food loss and waste in Indonesia. A total of 22 actors including companies, associations, and other organizations in the food sector have committed to participate in this movement. This event was also made possible with the support of Kalbe Nutritionals and Nutrifood Indonesia, which are part of GRASP 2030. “Let us take real action through individual and organizational behavior, which hopefully will reduce food waste in Indonesia,” said Cogito Ergo Sumadi Rasan, Chairman of GRASP 2030.

Yogyakarta Cares about Food Waste

Yogyakarta was chosen as the launch site for Consumindful, because it is known as a tourist and student area with people coming from other regions, making food waste handling efforts in Yogyakarta very important. In addition, the Provincial Government of Yogyakarta Special Region (Pemprov DIY) also has a commitment to encourage food waste handling efforts. 

The Provincial Government of Yogyakarta Special Region, represented by Plh. Assistant for Economy and Development, Yuna Pancawati, conveyed the need to consume food more wisely and without leftovers, and underlined that the Consumindful initiative is very important in reducing food waste.

In a panel discussion session attended by stakeholders from government, industry, and academia, the Head of the DIY Agriculture and Food Security Agency (DPKP), Sugeng Purwanto, mentioned that “The DIY Provincial Government has a commitment in handling food waste through Governor Instruction No. 33 of 2021 on handling food shrinkage and waste. In realizing the mandate of the instruction, socialization and education on food waste prevention are carried out in the community as well as studies related to this matter.” Meanwhile, the Head of the DIY Tourism Office, Singgih Raharjo, said, “The DIY Tourism Office has a collaboration program with start-up Surplus that helps distribute excess food in hotels, cafes and restaurants by giving a discounted price on the food sold.”

Solving the food waste problem from various perspectives and sectors needs to be done to ensure the food waste reduction target is achieved. “The industry has a role in reducing food waste by designing products that suit the needs of consumers and support mindful consumption,” said Arief Purwanto Nugroho, Head of Communication & Sustainability, Kalbe Nutritionals. The hospitality and restaurant industry sector, which is one of the actors in the food industry, also needs to take part in reducing food waste. Said by Erwan Sakti, Executive Chef of Platinum Hotel Adisucipto, “The culinary industry can contribute to reducing food waste by conducting proper processing, organizing portions served to consumers, conducting education, and conducting unconsumed food donation activities.”

Apart from the food industry, the role of academia is equally important in carrying out public education functions related to efforts to prevent food waste. “Food waste prevention can be done with various strategies. Academia has a role to play in developing food distribution platforms, developing food waste processing technology, and educating the public on food waste issues,” said Prof. Dr. Ir. Eni Harmayani, M.Sc., Dean of the Faculty of Agricultural Technology, Universitas Gadjah Mada.

Going forward, the Consumindful initiative will continue to campaign for food waste reduction efforts. Collaboration and support from various parties are needed to realize the goal of a food waste-free Indonesia. Hopefully, more and more people and industries will care about the issue of food waste and take real action in their daily lives.

Contact:

Nurina Izazi, Communication and Member Relation Manager IBCSD, [email protected], +62-813-3261-4268

Driving An Inclusive ESG Actions in South-East Asia Through ESG NXT 2022

Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) related risks have become prevalent risks worldwide and in the Asia-Pacific region. It is crucial that businesses learn to navigate and thrive within these changing landscapes and integrate and include ESG considerations into strategy formulation and business operations. 

The ESG risk landscape is constantly evolving with financial institutions and regulators stepping up their ambitions into more sustainable financing and operating practices, making efforts to integrate environmental and social considerations into their governance and business strategy, operations, and risk management.

 The ESG NXT 2022 conference, a joint event of BCSD Malaysia and Knowledge Group of Companies, provides valuable insights on businesses’ actions needed to accelerate the system transformations necessary for a net-zero, nature-positive, and more equitable future. The conference features prominent international and local thought leaders and experts to talk about an inclusive theme, “Making ESG Actionable For All”. It aims to foster meaningful discussions that provide a multi-dimensional perspective on sustainability’s critical issues and “how-to” solutions. This conference has been skillfully designed around 4 tracks covering:

  • Built Environment, Transport, and Mobility
  • Energy and Decarbonization
  • Food, Agriculture, Health and Wellbeing
  • Products and Materials

These tracks have been strategically chosen as they encapsulate the critical areas where systems transformation is most needed and ESG ambitions and metrics need to be adequately set.

Operating in the same region, IBCSD was given the opportunity to share the ESG landscape in Indonesia and how IBCSD’s programs can support the businesses to take one step at a time on their net-zero emission and nature-positive journey. On the first day, Indah Budiani, Executive Director of IBCSD, shared how businesses define their pathways of decarbonization strategy with collective commitment and actions through the Net-Zero Hub. The Net-Zero Hub is a platform jointly developed by IBCSD with Indonesia Chamber of Commerce (KADIN) to help businesses to achieve science-based targets on net-zero emission. 

In the Food, Agriculture, Health and Wellbeing track, Bryan Citrasena, Project Manager of IBCSD, talked about the importance of addressing food loss and waste (FLW) for food and agriculture sector businesses to reduce their impact on nature and benefit socio-economic development. Tackling FLW has been underlined in the SDG 12.3 goal with a specific reduction target of 50% by 2030. The IBCSD program, namely GRASP2030, collects businesses and other supporting stakeholders in the food value chain to make food consumption and production more sustainable by reducing FLW in Indonesia. In the same forum, Tan Hong Tat, Head of Sustainability at AEON Malaysia, also shared AEON’s practices in tackling FLW and how they influence customers to have more awareness about food waste.

The conference took two consecutive days in Bangsar, Kuala Lumpur. With more than 60 competent speakers, a series of presentations, talkshows and discussions was conveyed in this two-days conference, talking on how businesses need to move on from business as usual mindset to more proactive stance against climate emergency.

 

Addressing Regional Food Loss & Waste Issue, GRASP2030 Promoted Multi-stakeholder Collaboration

The world’s food demand in 2050 will increase by 50-100% in line with the increase in population which is estimated to reach 9.7 billion. Based on census data, Indonesia’s population in 2020 reached 270.2 million, an increase of 32.56 million compared to the 2010 data. The increasing need for food to offset the population growth has problems due to the high issue of Food Loss and Waste. One-third of the food produced for human consumption is lost or wasted during the harvest and consumption processes, known as food loss and waste (FLW).

 In line with the Indonesian Presidency at the G20, the Ministry of Agriculture through the Meeting of Agricultural Chief Scientists (MACS) has an agenda to support the Sustainable Development Goals, especially the 12.3 target, a 50% reduction of FLW at the retail and consumer levels, as well as reducing FLW in the food production chain.

The Technical Workshop on Food Loss and Waste is a series of MACS agendas organized by the Agricultural Research and Development Agency (Balitbangtan) of the Ministry of Agriculture, in this case the Agricultural Postharvest Research and Development Center (BB Pascapanen) in collaboration with the Thϋnen Institute, Germany. The activity took place for two days from 5-6 October 2022 at the Grand Kheisa Hotel, Yogyakarta Special Region.

Carrying the theme ‘What Reduction on Food Loss and Waste can and must be contributed to Sustainable Intensification’, this workshop aims to obtain the latest information related to FLW reduction innovations in the ASEAN region, determine relevant FLW measurement methods, and determine appropriate policies to be jointly implemented regionally.

 IBCSD was given an opportunity to introduce GRASP2030 as a collaboration platform between private sectors and other supporting actors to work together in tackling food loss and waste on the first day of the workshop. The Executive Director of IBCSD, Indah Budiani, said that GRASP2030 would support the government and contribute to FLW reduction action in Indonesia.

 Other competent speakers also presented valuable information of FLW interventions in ASEAN and global during the plenary session. The line of speakers namely Carola Fabi (FAO), Dr. Kohei Watanabe (Teikyo University), Prof. Dr. S. Joni Munarso (Association of Indonesian Postharvest Technology Experts), Prof. Dr. Handewi Salim (Indonesian Research Association), Kuntum Melati, MA, MSc (Stockholm Environment Institute Asia), and Young Run Hur (UNEP). After the plenary presentation, the participants were divided into 4 groups to brainstorm on what needs to be done and what are the challenges in reducing food loss and waste in the region.

On the second day, speakers, delegates, and participants visited a maggot farm operated by PT Maggoprotein Alam Indonesia as one of the practical solutions to reduce food waste in the Yogyakarta region. After that, the group was brought to visit Salak (snake fruit) plantation, Foodbank of Indonesia, and Batik craft center. The workshop was closed with dinner and Ramayana ballet show at Prambanan temple.

 The Food Loss and Waste Technical Workshop was attended by 9 ASEAN countries consisting of policy makers, ministries/institutions, universities, practitioners, companies and related associations. (Bryan)

Businesses and Organizations to Reduce Food Loss and Waste

Jakarta – GRASP2030 (Gotong Royong to Overcome Food Waste Loss 2030), a pioneer of the voluntary intervention to reduce food waste from upstream to downstream initiated by the Indonesia Business Council for Sustainable Development (IBCSD), celebrates its first anniversary on September 8, 2022 by holding a hybrid seminar GRASP2030 Anniversary “One-Year Collaboration Journey to Reduce Food Loss and Waste.

The celebration of this year’s journey became even more meaningful as it was attended by the Director of Food and Nutrition Awareness of BAPANAS Nita Yulianis, the Environmental Impact Control Team of the Directorate of Waste Management at the Ministry of Environment and Forestry Windi Andriani, Managing Director of WRAP Asia-Pacific Claire Kneller, P4G Director of Partnerships Robyn McGuckin, President of IBCSD Shinta Kamdani, GRASP2030 Steering Group Cogito Ergo S. R and Head of Communication and Sustainability Sintesa Group, Inka Prawirasasra and members of GRASP2030, companies, organizations and agencies.

Since its launch in 2021, GRASP2030 has committed to uniting all business players and partners supporting the food system chain in Indonesia to take concrete actions to halve food loss and waste (FLW) by 2030 such as Goal 12.3 of the Sustainable Development Goals (TPB/SDGs) and Goals. 2 Reduces Hunger Problems. Stakeholders’ concern for FLW has been proven within a year, GRASP2030 has collaborated with more than 20 members from the food and beverage industry, hotels, start-ups, think tanks, food donation organizations and retail.

“In the past year IBCSD has tried to facilitate this through GRASP 2030 by increasing the capacity of the private sector in managing and reducing food waste with the Target-Measure-Act approach  which is carried out in working group activities and other activities,” said IBCSD President, Shinta W. Kamdani in opening the event.

“I hope this celebration of the achievements in the first year can be a motivation for GRASP2030 to be on-track and continue to grow in achieving our goals together with our goal of halving food loss and food waste to be achieved in 2030,” explained Shinta.

GRASP2030 Strengthen Business Commitment and Partners to Reduce Food Loss and Waste

Talking about waste and food waste, according to FAO, this causes trillions of dollars in losses to industry and accounts for 8-10% of global emissions that can accelerate climate change. It is known from The Economist Intelligence Unit, Indonesia is the second largest food waste contributor in the world. This statement is supported by the results of the BAPPENAS FLW Study over the past decade, which shows at least 115-184 kg of food waste generation per capita per year. The sad thing is that the Global Hunger Index states that Indonesia is still at the level of serious hunger. This means that there is an imbalance between food produced, consumed, distributed and wasted. Seeing this phenomenon, the strategy for handling food loss and waste will require several actors from various sectors to take joint action.

“Data is the new gold. What we do is meaningless without measurement and reporting. So that by 2030, there will be reports that Indonesia must have reduced food waste,” said Cogito Ergo S. R., GRASP2030 Steering Group and General Manager of FoodCycle Indonesia. “Of course we still need further collaborations. We invite signatories to be able to invite their network to join GRASP2030.”

Cogito added that GRASP2030 continues to support the Government’s Priority Program in the RPJMN to increase the availability, access and quality of food consumption and Low Carbon development by forming two working groups, namely Measurement-Reporting and Food Donation. The movement has also launched a website that can be used as a reference for sharing the latest news and best practices about reducing FLW. Not only that, GRASP2030 actively engages in dialogue with the relevant government and seeks to build public awareness to be wiser in consuming food through a Social Media Campaign titled #Consumindful. Sintesa Peninsula Hotel Palembang, as a member, applies a financial model for FLW by utilizing the “Food Waste Tracker” technology from Leanpath.

Several other important points presented in this webinar were that the National Food Agency collaborated with a member of GRASP2030, Surplus Indonesia, with Sarinah and HIPPINDO in initiating the Sarinah Free Food Waste program, which is a public-private collaboration in supporting the reduction of FLW.

In the discussion, KLHK explained that food waste data is the largest of Indonesia’s total waste and the public also needs to be given an understanding of household waste segregation and scheduled or sorted collection. Currently, the Ministry of Environment and Forestry is conducting capacity building for local governments to the sub-district level to ensure that the mechanism for collecting and preparing facilities is ready to support the movement. Welcoming the G20, the Ministry of Environment and Forestry collaborated with the Bali Government to implement a separate waste collection system.

Now the urge to take action against food loss and waste has become the concern of many parties. Through GRASP2030, it is hoped that more businesses and supply chain partners will care and take action to achieve the goal of halving food loss and waste by 2030.

Sintesa Peninsula Hotel Palembang Pioneered Measurable Food Waste Reduction

Palembang – GRASP2030 with Sintesa Peninsula Hotel Palembang and Leanpath, collaborate to reduce the level of food waste in hotels. Sintesa Peninsula uses the Leanpath ‘Pay As You Save’ model, which represents a complete food waste prevention platform consisting of in-kitchen tracking devices, analytics software that crunches food waste data, and coaching programs that help kitchens understand their data and act on it to prevent food waste. The benefit of this model is that the hotel would not be charged for the service if there is no saving from food waste reduction.

About 1/3 of the world’s food production goes to waste. At the same time, over 800 million people go hungry. According to a study by the Ministry of National Development Planning (Bappenas), food waste wasted in Indonesia from 2010 to 2019 was 23–48 million tons per year or 115–182 kilograms per capita per year.

Food waste is likewise a significant drag on a hotel’s bottom line. One of the causes contributing to the rise of food waste is the concept of a buffet at a hotel restaurant. This is due to variances in consumer preferences for food type and portion size. Furthermore, food waste was “invisible” in high-volume kitchens. It would be thrown out throughout the day, with no one knowing the entire weight or cost. Food waste must be tracked in order for kitchens to control and improve it. As a result, they were able to “see” it for the first time.

Prior to launching the program, Sintesa Peninsula Hotel Palembang received hybrid training from Leanpath on Tuesday, August 23, 2022. This training was attended by the kitchen and F&B teams; Steve Finn, Leanpath VP of Sustainability and Public Affairs; Marta Lopez Camara, Leanpath APAC Account Director; and the GRASP2030 IBCSD team. Yue Zhang, Leanpath Customer Service Manager, explained the program system, timeline, terms, and conditions and provided a question-and-answer discussion room to help the Sintesa team.

“We are very happy and proud to be the first hotel in Indonesia to implement the food waste prevention tools from Leanpath. We welcome the GRASP2030 program and this collaboration. I hope the Sintesa Peninsula Palembang team will focus more on reducing food waste and maximizing the raw materials used.” said Sarjuri, General Manager, Sintesa Peninsula Hotel Palembang, after the training.

Now Sintesa Peninsula Palembang has started tracking food waste pre-cooking and collecting baseline data led by the Champion of the Project, Rina (Executive Sous Chef) and Co-Champion, Kuswinarto (Asst.F&B Manager). After 3 weeks, the Leanpath team and Sintesa Peninsula Palembang will develop a strategy and implement the process of reducing food waste.

 

Journey to Sustainable Development through Practical Collaboration with the Food Bank

Jakarta, July , 2022— The role of food banks during the COVID-19 pandemic has proven to be one of the vanguards in providing access to food to people in need during critical times. Food banks help to alleviate poverty by giving food service supplies for consumption. To encourage multi-stakeholder collaboration in halving food loss and waste and achieving Sustainable Development Goals of Zero Hunger and Responsible Consumption and Production in Indonesia, FoodCycle Indonesia held a “Journey to Sustainable Development through Practical Collaboration with the Food Bank.”  at 101 Urban Hotel Thamrin, Central Jakarta.

In her opening speech, Co-founder and CEO of FoodCycle Indonesia, Astrid Paramita, said, “As a food bank that has been established in 2017, FoodCycle Indonesia wants to continue to invite all parties to contribute to the problem of hunger and access to food for the community.”

Indah Budiani, Executive Director of the Indonesian Business Council for Sustainable Development (IBCSD), also added, “Food banks have an important role for businesses in bridging food producers to the public who have excess food to be distributed to those in need.” Cooperation between producers or businesses with food banks can help businesses overcome food loss or food waste problems while also increasing the positive impact.

The remarks were also made by Hidayat Nur Wahid, Member of the Indonesian House of Representatives Commission VIII and Deputy Chair of the MPR RI, who conveyed through a video recording that the DPR is in the process of ratifying the Food Bank Bill for Social Welfare as one of the important legal umbrellas in protecting food bank activities in Indonesia.

“Food banks have proven to be organizations that help the government in realizing food access guarantees for the community, so their presence needs to be protected with legal aspects and legal protection that supports donation activities carried out by food banks,” he said.

Director of Field Services of The Global Food Banking Network, Craig A. Nemitz, mentions that hunger happens in all parts of the world. In general, there is an excess of food and a shortage of food in one city within a very close distance. “A third of the food ever produced to meet human needs has never been eaten. A very astonishing fact. ” He added that he was concerned that the figure had not changed throughout his career in food banking. So the presence of a foodbank is crucial to this problem. 

Herman Andryanto, Co-founder of FoodCycle Indonesia, also shared creative collaborations that can be done together with food banks. He gave an example of the unique innovations carried out by various food banks in various countries, such as the Philippines, which uses vacant land for grocery gardens; and Hong Kong, which chooses to cooperate with well-known airlines to donate food.

At the same event, FoodCycle Indonesia also launched the Spicy Marinara Sauce product innovation, which was produced from a surplus of unprocessed tomatoes in the hotel and restaurant industry. There is also a FoodCycle Point, a location that makes it easier for individual donors to donate their food directly to nearby places, or a social media campaign “One Post = One Donation” that can be followed by netizens.

With these creative innovations, we hope that more and more parties, both government and private, will collaborate with food banks to provide access to decent food for people in need and other vulnerable groups.

FoodCycle Indonesia is a non-profit organization that operates as a food bank and is committed to distributing food aid to underprivileged communities in need. Since 2019, FoodCycle has been registered as a part of the Global FoodBanking Network Asia Incubator Program. To date, FoodCycle has distributed more than 520 tons of food aid and expanded their reach through 80 partners in 12 cities across Indonesia. FoodCycle Indonesia has joined GRASP2030 as an associate signatory.

 

Optimizing Food Donations to Halve Food Loss and Waste

Jakarta – July 28, 2022, GRASP2030 (Gerakan Atasi Susut Limbah Pangan 2030), one of the voluntary agreement programs of the Indonesian Business Council for Sustainable Development (IBCSD) that focuses on efforts to reduce food loss and food waste, held a Food Donation Working Group discussion boldly. This activity aims to encourage collaboration between core signatories (companies) that have a food surplus and associate signatories (supporting organizations) in order to channel this potential to those in need.

As the Chairman of GRASP2030 and General Manager of FoodCycle Indonesia, Cogito Ergo Sumadi, said in his remarks, “Instead of throwing away food that is still fit for us to donate because every food you eat is also the property of others.”

 

 

 

According to the EPA, one of the six ways of reducing food loss and waste that companies can do is through the redistribution of food surplus, also known as a food donation. This activity connects companies, individuals, or donors who have excess product absorption in the market to do good things by distributing surplus products that are still feasible to surrounding communities in need.

In addition, Michael Jones, International Program Manager of WRAP UK in the food donation working group discussion, also shared his experiences while handling the FLW program in the UK. In the UK, WRAP has a Courtauld Commitment 2030, a UK success story – a voluntary agreement that enables collaborative action across the entire UK food chain to deliver farm-to-fork reductions in food waste, greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, and water stress that will help the UK food and drink sector achieve global environmental goals.

He mentioned that there are several key drivers that encourage companies to make food donations, such as cost, corporate social responsibility, beneficiaries, and ease of implementation. However, in practice, sometimes challenges arise regarding product recalls, product damage, close or past sell-by dates, quantity, product ownership, product ownership, safety, and traceability, brand integrity, safety, and traceability, and incorrect labels. To help other companies around the world, WRAP has documented how to overcome these challenges on its website.

The one-hour discussion was attended by representatives from Nutrifood, Superindo, Great Giant Foods, FoodBank of Indonesia (FOI), FoodCycle Indonesia, Aksata Pangan, FoodBank Bandung, Surplus Indonesia, and East-West Seed. 

Find out more in https://grasp2030.ibcsd.or.id/

The Main Key in Overcoming Food Loss and Waste: Collaboration and Innovation – T20 Side Event Webinar

The Indonesia Business Council for Sustainable Development (IBCSD) together with the Center for Transdisciplinary and Sustainability Science (CTSS) IPB University held a webinar with the theme “Tackling Food Loss and Waste, Driving Transformation through Innovation and Collaboration” which is part of T20 (Think 20) side event. This activity aims to facilitate the exchange of ideas and experiences on multi-stakeholder collaboration by bringing innovation and technology that can be a better, more appropriate, and efficient solution in reducing the problem of shrinkage and food waste.

In Indonesia, the Food Loss and Waste (FLW) study reports that we dispose of 23-48 million tons of food waste per year in the period 2000-2019 which emits around 82.26 Mton CO2eq per year or 7.29% of the total Greenhouse Gas emissions. Indonesia. This is equivalent to an economic loss of 213-551 Trillion Rupiah/year or the equivalent of 4-5% of Indonesia’s GDP (BAPPENAS, 2021).

The G20 Indonesia presidency carries the theme “Recover Together, Recover Stronger”. To achieve a stronger economic recovery, the G20 has prioritized several agendas, such as emphasizing digital transformation and including sustainable financing, which will also help accelerate food loss and waste (FLW) practices in related industries. Meanwhile, the SDGs also set out specific targets on SDG 12.3, namely halving global food waste per capita at retail and consumer levels and reducing food loss along production and supply chains, including post-harvest by 2030.

In his remarks, Ir Medrilzam, Director of the Environment of BAPPENAS conveyed the importance of changing the mindset of all parties from upstream to downstream. Production is not only focused on increasing productivity but also efficiency. In the case of FLW, the public as consumers are encouraged to be wiser in their consumption in order to reduce food wastage. BAPPENAS encourages the G20 and T20 to be used as a momentum for knowledge sharing as well as providing innovative ideas for various policies, both at global and national levels.

In the dialogue, Prof. Dr. Ir. Dominicus S. Priyarsono from IPB University stated that the lack of FLW data in Indonesia implies that there is no awareness and priority in overcoming this problem. Furthermore, he said that in international collaboration, what needs to be encouraged is efforts to reduce food rejection related to quality control and food safety. It is as important as overcoming non-tariff handling barriers and encouraging public and private coordination.

Dr Andriko Notosusanto explained that global food competition was a challenge in itself. In Indonesia, mutual cooperation to overcome FLW is an important thing that needs to be done considering the large amount of food needed with a large population.

Other food waste handling efforts that need to be done include strengthening communication between activists and donors, strengthening Focus Group Discussions for the preparation of regulations, making MoUs with various parties, facilitating food waste reduction, education and database preparation studies so that the reduction target becomes clear.

Another thing that was later conveyed by M Agung Saputra, Managing Director of Surplus Indonesia, was that Surplus was a community that initially combined sustainability and technology with the tagline “Save Food, Save Budget Save Planet” which created an innovative program for entrepreneurs who had leftover food to earn sold at half price. Surplus, which is part of GRASP 2030 Steering Group member, acts as one of the solutions in tackling food waste in Indonesia.

Angelique Dewi, Head of Corporate Communication Division of Nutrifood Indonesia, who is also a member of the GRASP 2030 Steering Group, explained that Nutrifood Indonesia carries out various activities that can adopt the 3 pillars, people profit and planet. Another thing that underlies efforts to reduce food loss and waste is one of them by conducting Food Loss Management in collaboration with 6 foodbanks in Indonesia. She added that reducing food loss and waste needs to pay attention to the health factor of processed food. It is also necessary to jointly educate the public in an effort to reduce food loss. Collaboration can be enhanced through GRASP 2030 that bridges between the private sector and other organizations in overcoming food loss and waste.

 

WRAP UK visit Indonesia to Reinforce Support for GRASP2030 on Halving Food Loss and Waste

The International Director WRAP UK, Richard Swannell, and his International Program Manager, Michael Jones were scheduled to visit Jakarta from 24 – 27 May 2022 to strengthen GRASP2030 – a collaborative action in halving food loss and waste in Indonesia. WRAP (Waste & Resources Action Programme) is a British registered charity established in 2000 focusing on climate action and working around the globe with businesses, individuals, and communities to achieve a circular economy. By helping them reduce waste, develop sustainable products, efficiently use resources and give the planet a sustainable future.

During their visits, the WRAP UK International Director and Program Manager met with the Government Representatives from the Ministry of National Development Planning (BAPPENAS), Ministry of Agriculture National Food Agency, Ministry of Environment and Forestry, Danish Embassy, Sintesa Groups, and the Steering Committee of GRASP2030 to deliver GRASP2030 as Indonesia’s strategic plan – discussing the collaboration opportunities and support presented by such a transition of FLW sub-national activity, direct funding, and of how the Public-Private-Partnership can support Indonesia to tackle food loss and waste.

As Mr. Swannell said at GRASP 2030 Steering Committee Meetings, “It’s become a more important time for us to redouble our efforts, reduce the food loss and waste, get more food to those who are in need, reduce GHG and help businesses to reduce costs over that period because food waste is such a significant cost.” He would like to thank all GRASP 2030 stakeholders for the progress made so far and urge the stakeholders in thinking to redouble the efforts, to go faster to deliver more cost savings that would increase the donations because the world needs this.

Furthermore, the government hopes that GRASP2030 would help them develop a roadmap, policies, and regulations for Indonesia’s strategy for tackling FLW as well as accelerating business best practices principles. There is an appetite for the strategic FLW actions and technical assistance that can be brought. Work is ongoing preparing a Private-Public Partnership draft to assess the policy approach and funding to bring the Target-Measure-Act principle anticipated to the sub-national activity.

The GRASP2030 is a Voluntary Agreement (VA), that will bring a collective commitment and action to support the global goal of halving food loss and waste by 2030, thus increasing the environmental, social, and economic benefits for the participating organizations and for Indonesia. Currently, GRASP 2030 has 20 signatories, including 9 Core Signatories for businesses who are passionate about reducing the FLW and 11 Associate Signatories who act as supporting actors to achieve the goals.

WRAP UK is IBCSD’s Strategic Partner in delivering the GRASP 2030 initiative and has been considered the champion of food waste and loss initiatives. Therefore, Indonesia could learn and replicate the best practice of international experience. WRAP is headquartered in London, UK, and they have already been involved in global FLW actions from the beginning, working in 43 countries, and this issue is one of their major initiatives.

Wasting Food Feeds Climate Change: IBCSD Unites with Food Waste Action Week to Break The Cycle

UK’s second national Food Waste Action Week begins today, with Indonesia Business Council for Sustainable Development (IBCSD) joining as a supporter. IBCSD will be supporting Food Waste Action Week through GRASP 2030 (Gotong Royong Atasi Susut & Limbah Pangan di 2030) by sharing assets and content about “Food Storage Mistakes” on IBCSD social media

The second annual Food Waste Action Week begins today, Monday 7 March. It will raise people’s awareness of the huge impact of household food waste on climate change and share practical advice, food-savvy behaviors, and tips on how we can all easily reduce the food we waste in our homes.

Around 6.6 million tonnes of household food is thrown away a year in the UK. This food waste is responsible for nearly 25 million tonnes of CO2 emissions, equivalent to 5.4% of the UK’s territorial emissions. The majority, 4.5 million tonnes, is food that could have been eaten and is worth approximately £14 billion (or £60 a month for an average family with two children). It requires an area almost the size of Wales to produce all the food and drink currently wasted in the UK.

IBCSD will be participating in the campaign by raising public awareness through multiple channels; Social media and website. We will also create our social media content about “Food Storage Mistakes”. Many people are unfamiliar with proper food storage techniques. Storing our food properly can help us prevent food waste, avoid foodborne illnesses and save money. We want to make ordinary citizens aware of how they store their food.

Bryan Citrasena, Project Manager for Food & Nature at IBCSD said, one of the great barriers to food waste reduction in Indonesia is to shift the public mental model and behavior. There is a mindset of ‘providing more food is better than less’ which makes the portion of the food served to consumers more than what they actually want or need to eat. Lack of information on statistics and impacts also becomes the reason for high food waste in Indonesia. “IBCSD has been promoting food waste reduction through the GRASP 2030 initiative. The GRASP 2030 brings businesses and supporting actors across the food chain in Indonesia to achieve the Goal 12.3 of SDG, halving food loss and waste by 2030, thus increasing the environmental, social, and economic benefits for the participating organizations and for the country”.

Love Food Hate Waste runs an annual survey of people’s habits and knowledge around food waste. This highlighted that 81% of UK citizens are concerned about climate change, but only 32% see a clear link with food waste. The survey helped to inform the theme of the Week and the development of materials to motivate people to act. This year, Love Food Hate Waste found that the public’s relationship with its freezers has become particularly frosty with many people not knowing how to safely freeze and defrost their food.

Sarah Clayton, Love Food Hate Waste, “Getting to grips with freezing and defrosting are big factors in preventing food from going to waste at home. At a time of rising food prices alongside huge public concern about climate change, tackling food waste at home is one way we can all make a difference and save money. For the average family with children, the cost of binning food can be more than £700 per year. So, Food Waste Action Week is all about avoiding being savvy in how we store but then use our food.”

Love Food Hate Waste is keen to show that used properly, the freezer is the king of the kitchen. In fact, freezing and defrosting just three key meat items that are commonly not used in time (fresh chicken, bacon, and sausages) could reduce waste of those items by as much as 15,000 tonnes per annum. And, when it comes to defrosting, busy households can avoid a lengthy overnight defrost by using their microwave instead – as people use a toaster to defrost sliced bread from the freezer.

Working together, we can prevent food from being wasted needlessly and protect the planet.

About

Love Food Hate Waste aims to raise awareness of the need to reduce food waste and help the UK public act. It shows that by doing some easy practical everyday things in the home we can all waste less food, which will ultimately benefit the environment, and our pockets too. Love Food Hate Waste is managed by WRAP.

WRAP is a global NGO based in the UK. It is one of the UK’s top 5 environmental charities and works with governments, businesses and individuals to ensure that the world’s natural resources are used more sustainably. It is the charity leading the UK Plastics Pact (a world first), Courtauld Commitment 2030, Textiles 2030 as well as the citizen campaigns Love Food Hate Waste, Love Your Clothes, Clear on Plastics and Recycle Now. It also runs Food Waste Action Week and Recycle Week in the UK. WRAP works collaboratively and develops and delivers evidence-based, solutions to reduce the environmental cost of the food we eat, the clothes we wear and the plastic packaging we use. Founded in 2000 in the UK, WRAP now works with partners in forty countries, across six continents and is a Global Alliance Partner of The Royal Foundation’s Earthshot Prize.