Türkiye showing strong leadership on zero waste, says US nonprofit head

Gunders calls for food waste reduction to be included in national climate commitments and urges greater international financing Türkiye is demonstrating strong leadership in tackling waste through its Zero Waste initiative, the head of a US-based nonprofit organization said Monday, praising First Lady Emine Erdogan’s efforts to raise international awareness of the issue. Speaking to Anadolu on the sidelines of the UN climate summit COP31 in Türkiye, Dana Gunders, head of the US-based food waste nonprofit ReFED, highlighted Türkiye’s growing role in bringing countries together to address food waste.

“I think with COP and with the Zero Waste Foundation, Türkiye is really showing a lot of leadership,” Gunders said. “They’re now hosting the Zero Waste Forum every year for people from all over the world to come,” she added. Gunders also credited First Lady Emine Erdogan with helping bring greater international attention to the issue. “I think the attention to this topic has really risen with the help of the First Lady for sure,” she said.

Gunders spoke to Anadolu after participating in a COP31 session titled “Preventing Food Waste Before Consumption: Supply Chains and Surplus,” organized by WRAP in collaboration with ReFED. AI and technology offer solutions to food waste Highlighting practical measures to prevent food waste, Gunders said artificial intelligence could help grocery stores better predict consumer demand and avoid purchasing excess food. “I think one good solution has been using AI to forecast sales better,” she said, explaining that improved forecasting allows retailers to reduce surplus food before it becomes waste.

She also pointed to mobile applications that enable restaurants and grocery stores to sell food at significant discounts before it goes to waste. Another important factor, she said, is employee engagement, noting that company policies to reduce waste are not always effectively implemented. Gunders said ReFED, established in 2015, has focused on providing data to help businesses identify the most effective food waste reduction strategies.

According to Gunders, more than 300,000 people have used the organization’s website to access its data and resources. She also highlighted the US Food Waste Pact, a collaborative initiative involving more than half of US grocery stores and numerous restaurant and food service businesses, according to Gunders. Through data sharing and comparisons between participating companies, the initiative has helped encourage businesses to reduce food waste, with decreases recorded each year, she said.

Calls for stronger climate commitments and financing Turning to international climate negotiations, Gunders urged countries to incorporate food loss and waste reduction into their nationally determined contributions (NDCs), the climate action plans submitted under the Paris Agreement. “I would like to see some text in the negotiated text that identifies waste reduction and methane reductions from waste as a big opportunity,” she said. Gunders also called for greater financial support from international climate funding mechanisms, including the Green Climate Fund (GCF), to help countries implement food waste reduction measures.

“I’d like to see some of the funding from GCF and others be dedicated towards this,” she said. Emphasizing that effective solutions already exist, Gunders stressed the importance of mobilizing sufficient resources to scale up efforts globally. “I think the good thing about food waste is we know how to solve it, but it will take a lot of financing, so we need that to come,” she added.