When I come home from work feeling exhausted on Friday evenings, I often find myself sighing in disappointment at the sight of nearly spoiled vegetables in my refrigerator. “Why do I keep doing this?” I wonder. But I know I’m not the only one. Japan produces around five million tons of edible food waste annually, with half of it coming from households. The government has set a goal to halve edible food waste in both the food industry and households by 2030, compared to the levels in 2000.

At the 2024 ReFED Food Waste Solutions Summit, several people asked me, “Is it true that Japan has reduced its food waste by about 30%?^"

To be honest, I’m not entirely sure about the exact number. However, it’s true that Japan has been diligently addressing this issue since the early 2000s, particularly within the food industry. The Food Recycling Law, which requires large food companies to report their food waste and reduction plans to the Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry, and Fisheries, has been instrumental in pushing businesses to meet sector-specific reduction targets. On the other hand, initiatives to reduce household food waste have lagged behind.

To tackle this nationwide issue, the non-profit organization Gomi-Japan (‘Gomi’ means ‘garbage’ in Japanese), which has been dedicated to waste reduction and recycling in Japan for many years, conducted a “food waste diary” project. This initiative was a collaboration with Kobe city and Mitsubishi UFJ Research and Consulting, funded by the Ministry of Environment. The survey took place in both the summer of 2016 and the winter of 2017, for four weeks each, involving about 700 sample households. Participants were asked to record the types of unused food (either unopened or partially used) and leftovers they discarded, along with the quantities and reasons for disposal.

Based on these surveys, we gained many insights into addressing household food waste. One interesting finding was that around 20% of unused food discarded came from gifts or surplus garden vegetables given by family, relatives, friends, or neighbors. In Japan, there is a gift-giving tradition in the middle and at the end of the year, where items such as beverages, sweets, ham, cooking oil, and noodles are commonly exchanged. If these gifts don’t suit the recipient’s taste, they often expire and are thrown away. In response to these results, several food retailers began hosting food drives at their stores to connect unwanted food with those in need throughout the city. This initiative has since spread to other businesses such as gyms and banks, and in 2023 alone, 25 tons of food were rescued.

Another finding was that vegetable waste, such as daikon and cucumbers, make up about 50% of unused food waste throughout the year. Vegetables were often discarded because they had rotted. However, households that used proper storage techniques, like wrapping vegetables in wet newspapers, produced less waste. To explore this potential solution, we conducted experimental research using a randomized controlled trial (RCT). We provided one group with an informational flier about how to store vegetables to extend their shelf life and compared their amount of food waste with another group that did not receive the flier.

Unfortunately, the result showed no significant difference between the two groups. We were quite disappointed and started wondering why. In the group that received the flier, many people actually tried the tips, and the amount of vegetable waste decreased until the third week of the experiment. However, it rebounded in the fourth week. Some participants commented that while they succeeded in extending the shelf life of their vegetables, they still didn’t use them up in the end. That’s why they ended up in the trash bin.

There can be multiple reasons for this: vegetables disappear from view in an unorganized refrigerator, a lack of recipes for half-used vegetables, or the desire to buy fresh. Simply extending the shelf life of vegetables was not enough.

This led Kobe to launch a citywide campaign to utilize vegetables by creating various recipes, mainly soups, from half-used vegetables. These recipes were developed by a famous local hotel, restaurants, and food manufacturers. Other municipalities are also running similar consumer campaigns, encouraging individuals to use up half-used ingredients, such as in soups or curries.

In addition to Kobe, other municipalities also conducted a “food waste diary”, and experimented with unique solutions based on their research. For example, Sendai City provided elderly residents with small pots to make the right portion of miso soup as they tended to cook as if they still lived with their children!

Although we haven’t found a silver bullet to solve the complex challenge of household food waste, we hope to get closer to our 2030 goal by working with others around the world who are tackling the same challenges.

You can email author Natsuko Matsuoka Kobayashi at [email protected] or connect on LinkedIn.

The views and opinions expressed in this guest blog are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect those of ReFED.