Public Service Announcement for Yokohama City

22nd October 2025

This week’s edition is on ‘Food Loss and Waste Reduction Month’

October is ‘Food Loss and Waste Reduction Month’.

Reducing food loss and waste is a universal issue that is also an SDG.

In Yokohama City, it’s estimated that around 17kgs, around 15,000yen’s worth, of food per citizen is thrown away each year.

When food waste occurs, all of the energy used up until that point, including in the production of the food, and the fuel used to transport it, is wasted.

And the consumption of all this energy is one of the causes of global warming.

So food loss and waste must be reduced to protect the Earth’s environment too.

For example, when shopping, are there times when you end up buying too much, just because something is cheap?

It feels good to pick up a bargain or an item that’s on sale at a discount, but it’s all for nothing if it just gets left to rot!

Let’s do our best to buy only what we need and in the quantities we need. 

It's also important to think about how to store food so all of it can be eaten while it still tastes good.

Also, when eating out, do you end up ordering too much?

It is said that over half of the food waste from restaurants consists of what customers leave on their plates.

Ordering only what can we can finish, and enjoying eating it, will put a smile on everyone’s faces, whether they’re consumers or restaurant workers.

There is a lot of action we can take in our daily lives, so let’s each of us do what we can bit by bit!