You already know that flying and driving contribute to your carbon footprint. What most people don't realise is that what you eat — and what gets wasted — may have a bigger climate impact than either.

Globally, the food system is responsible for approximately 26% of all greenhouse gas emissions (Our World in Data, based on Poore & Nemecek, 2018). And of all that food-related emission, a shocking proportion comes not from producing food — but from wasting it.

Where food emissions come from

The journey from farm to plate involves an enormous amount of energy, water, and land at every step:

Production: Fertiliser manufacture, livestock emissions, and farm machinery. Beef alone generates up to 60 kg of CO₂e per kilogram produced.

Processing and packaging: Energy-intensive transformation from raw ingredients to retail-ready product.

Transport: Cold-chain logistics from farm to distribution centre to retail floor.

Retail: Refrigeration, lighting, and in-store food preparation.

Households: Cooking, refrigeration, and — critically — what gets thrown away.

Every stage of this chain generates emissions. When food reaches a consumer and gets eaten, those emissions were worth it. When food gets wasted at any point in the chain, all of those embedded emissions are wasted too — and then generate additional methane as the food decomposes in landfill.

The food waste emissions problem in South Africa

South Africa loses approximately 10 million tonnes of food annually — nearly half of everything produced. When this food reaches landfill (which most of it does), it decomposes and releases methane, a greenhouse gas 80 times more potent than CO₂ over 20 years.

Globally, food waste accounts for 8–10% of all greenhouse gas emissions — more than the entire aviation industry combined. In South Africa, where the climate is already under significant stress from rising temperatures, extreme weather events, and water scarcity, the emissions from food waste represent an unnecessary and solvable contribution to the problem.

What your food choices actually cost the climate

The carbon footprint varies dramatically by food type. Some benchmarks (per kilogram of food, approximate):

One Surprise Bag. Measurable impact.

Every Refreshi Surprise Bag that gets rescued instead of wasted avoids approximately 2.5 kg of CO₂e — based on conversion factors used in SA FLWI reporting (Blonk methodology). It also saves around 600 litres of water and 2 m² of land from the waste stream.

In Refreshi's first fourteen months, the platform has sold over 173,000 bags — avoiding an estimated 432,500 kg of CO₂e from entering the atmosphere. That's equivalent to taking roughly 190 cars off the road for a year.

This isn't a solution to climate change on its own. But it is a direct, measurable, individual action — one that saves you money at the same time.

What else can you do?

Beyond Surprise Bags, the most impactful individual food choices for the climate are:

Eat less beef and lamb — these have the highest per-kilogram carbon footprint of any food.

Waste less food — the most impactful thing most households can do.

Buy seasonal and local — reduces transport emissions and supports local food systems.

Compost food scraps — diverts organic waste from landfill, reducing methane production.

The food system is complex. But the direction of travel is clear: less waste, less meat, more plants, and food that actually reaches the people who need it.

External references: Our World in Data — Food and Greenhouse Gas Emissions | Project Drawdown — Reduce Food Waste | WWF South Africa — all external new tab.