We can build a circular food system that ensures our food never creates waste. A circular food system provides economic opportunities, tackles climate change, protects biodiversity, and builds greater long-term resilience. In a circular economy food waste is prevented, surplus edible food can be redistributed to people who need it, and inedible food by-products and human waste become inputs for new products.

In today’s linear system, massive volumes of freshwater, synthetic inputs like chemical fertilisers, fossil-derived energy, and soil are used to produce 7.1 billion tonnes of food globally. Yet, so much of this is wasted. A large proportion of our food is destined for consumption within cities, where 2.8 billion tonnes of food waste and human waste are created each year. In cities, less than 2% of organic waste and the nutrients it contains is captured, treated safely, and used productively again. This results in missed economic opportunities and negative impacts on human health, local ecosystems, and agricultural land.

Preventing food waste and loss is better for the environment and makes economic sense. Technological solutions like Winnow, The number one food waste solution worldwide,  can help businesses to identify opportunities to reduce their food waste. Organisations such as Apeel have produced innovative solutions to extend the shelf-life of fresh produce, preventing food waste whilst eliminating the need for plastic packaging. New business models like Too Good To Go, which allows consumers to purchase close to expiry foods at a discounted price, are facilitated through technology.

Even in a scenario where surplus edible food is prevented and redistributed, inedible food by-products and human waste would continue to be produced. This can be made into various products for use in the agri-food sector and beyond.  Surplus edible food and the by-products generated during the production, processing and consumption of food (that may not commonly be considered edible) can be used as ingredients for new food products by food brands and providers.

Using these by-products can create new revenue streams and help address nutrition and hunger challenges, whilst providing more food from the same land area, thereby helping to protect natural ecosystems by reducing the pressure to convert them into farmland.

The valuable organic materials in food by-products and human waste today can be safely returned to agricultural land as compost and digestate from anaerobic digestion

. These inputs help rebuild soil organic matter, improve soil health, increase water infiltration and retention, prevent erosion, and allow the soil to sequester more carbon. The value of organic materials can be captured by transforming them into new biomaterials for use as packaging or in construction, fashion, pharmaceutical and other industries. New products would be designed so that the materials that they are made from can stay in use and, where appropriate, regenerate natural systems. For example, Ecovative transforms agricultural residues into a portfolio of materials with a range of properties that can be used for different applications. An unprecedented level of collaboration is required to transform the food system. Diverse actors have an essential role in ensuring that waste is eliminated from the future food system.