International Day of Zero Waste

The International Day of Zero Waste is marked on 30 March. The UN General Assembly adopted the resolution creating it on 14 December 2022. Türkiye put the proposal forward together with 105 other countries.

The scale of waste is hard to picture, so the UN offers an image: if the municipal solid waste we produce each year were packed into standard shipping containers placed end to end, the line would wrap around the globe 25 times. Without urgent action, that waste is expected to reach 3.8 billion tonnes a year by 2050.

Food is a large part of it. Every year about 1 billion tonnes of edible food is thrown away, nearly one third of all food available to consumers. Around 60 per cent of that waste happens at home, about 79 kg per person each year. Food loss and waste produce 8 to 10 per cent of global greenhouse gas emissions.

Practical steps help. Plan meals and buy what you will eat. Sort waste so food scraps and recyclables do not end up in landfill. Repair before replacing, and ask the brands you use what happens to their by-products.

Seafood has its own leftovers. In Thailand, more than 50,000 tonnes of green mussel shells are discarded each year. At AVALON Artisan Gallery, From Waste to Wonder means reclaiming that shell as MyraShell and MyraGem, so one industry's waste becomes another's raw material.