Food waste

Food waste or food loss is food that is discarded or lost or uneaten. The causes of food waste or loss are numerous, and occur at the stages of production, processing, retailing and consumption.

As of 2013, half of all food is wasted worldwide, according to the British Institution of Mechanical Engineers (IME). Loss and wastage occurs at all stages of the food supply chain or value chain. In low-income countries, most loss occurs during production, while in developed countries much food – about 100 kilograms (220 lb) per person per year – is wasted at the consumption stage.

Definition

The definition of waste is a contentious subject, often defined on a situational basis; this also applies to food waste.Professional bodies, including international organizations, state governments and secretariats may use their own definitions.

Definitions of food waste vary, among other things, in what food waste consists of, how it is produced, and where or what it is discarded from or generated by. Definitions also vary because certain groups do not consider (or have traditionally not considered) food waste to be a waste material, due to its applications. Some definitions of what food waste consists of are based on other waste definitions (e.g. agricultural waste) and which materials do not meet their definitions.

Last Week Tonight with John Oliver

Last Week Tonight with John Oliver, often abridged as Last Week Tonight, is an American late-night talk and news satire television program airing on Sundays on HBO in the United States and HBO Canada, and on Mondays (originally Tuesdays) on Sky Atlantic in the United Kingdom. The half-hour long show premiered on Sunday, April 27, 2014, and is hosted by comedian John Oliver. Last Week Tonight shares some similarities with Comedy Central's The Daily Show with Jon Stewart, where Oliver was previously featured as a correspondent and fill-in host, as it takes a satirical look at news, politics and current events on a weekly basis.

Oliver has said that he has full creative freedom, including free rein to criticize corporations. His initial contract with HBO was for two years with an option for extension. In February 2015, it was announced that the show has been renewed for two additional seasons of 35 episodes each. Oliver and HBO programming president Michael Lombardo have discussed extending the show from half an hour to a full hour and airing more than once a week after Oliver "gets his feet under him".

Peter Lehner

Peter Lehner (born 1958) is an American lawyer and environmentalist. He leads a sustainable food and farming program at Earthjustice, developing strategies to reduce health, environmental, and climate harms from food production, and to promote a more environmentally sound agricultural system.

From 2007 to 2015, Lehner was the executive director of the Natural Resources Defense Council and the NRDC Action Fund. There, Lehner managed more than 500 environmental advocates in seven offices, guided NRDC's policy, advocacy, communications, strategy, development, and management, and led the Action Fund's political activities. During Lehner’s tenure, NRDC opened new offices in Beijing and Chicago and launched a Center for Market Innovation. Among other new initiatives, Lehner shaped a clean food program addressing food waste, antibiotics in meat, regional food, and climate mitigation. He blogged regularly on Huffington Post, delivered a TEDx talk on food waste, and co-authored, with Bob Deans, the book In Deep Water, about the 2010 Deepwater Horizon oil spill in the Gulf.