Food production puts a significant strain on the environment. Firstly, it demands many resources, such as water, soil, agrochemicals and energy. Secondly, processes like dunging or spraying release many harmful emissions. What’s more, it costs a lot of money to prepare food for consumption, and to store, transport and pack them.
When these valuable foodstuffs don’t make it onto our plate, this is ultimately an economic and ecological waste. In this country, one food that very frequently gets lost on its way down the value chain is the humble potato. We’ve investigated some measures that could reduce potato loss, and analysed their ecological and economic effects.
Where and why do potatoes get lost?
In Switzerland, there are two main reasons why potatoes fall by the wayside. Firstly, some potatoes may not satisfy the quality specifications, so farmers and packing companies must sort out the sub-standard ones. In this country, at least, producers can completely recover this loss – by using discarded potatoes for animal feed or passing them on to a biogas plant.
Secondly, consumers throw away potatoes – for example, because they’ve bought more than they need. The losses in households are particularly significant, as the potatoes have already gone through the entire production and supply chain. The majority end up in an incineration plant – not an efficient re-use of food. In retail outlets, the amount of potatoes lost is comparatively small, but here too they usually land in the garbage.
How can we avoid wastage?
One way would be for producers to improve the quality of potatoes – for example, by selecting new and more appropriate varieties or improving crop protection. This is something that has been researched intensively and with some success for many years. However, other changeable factors, such as the weather or new pests and diseases affect potato quality.
For households, on the other hand, a couple of promising measures could mean fewer potatoes in the bin. For one, if retailers were to sell only loose potatoes, consumers could select the exact quantity they need for a given time. Alternatively, retailers could sell only unwashed potatoes in lightproof cardboard packaging; this would significantly extend their shelf life. These two measures would reduce the annual loss in Switzerland by 5,000 and 12,000 tonnes respectively.
What are the effects of reducing waste?
Our sustainability analysis shows that reducing a loss (particularly at the production and trade phase) mainly produces economic benefits. In fact, just shifting a loss to an earlier stage in the production or supply chain saves money. So it’s worth motivating producers to sort their potatoes as vigorously as possible.
We were a little surprised that, from an ecological perspective, the potato loss in Switzerland is not too bad. Reducing wastage in the local potato market has a limited ecological impact; in this country, potatoes lost for consumption go to feed animals or produce energy. This leads to an ecological credit, so to speak, which is relatively high when the discarded potatoes replace another source of feed or energy.
The significant negative impact is from potato loss in private households. A small credit from a garbage incinerator cannot compensate for the adverse environmental effects already accumulated at this stage.
Raising consumer awareness
I think that any measures to reduce wastage should also take into account what consumers want. According to a survey, they prefer measures that endanger the environment and their health as little as possible and entail no great inconvenience.
