King Charles celebrates 75th birthday with new project tackling food waste and hunger

LONDON, Nov 14 (Reuters) - Britain's King Charles celebrates his 75th birthday on Tuesday and will use the occasion to launch a new scheme to tackle food poverty and cut down on waste.

The king, who has spent more than five decades as an outspoken campaigner on environmental issues and supporter of a sustainable economy, will officially launch the 'Coronation Food Project', his mission to try to stop people going hungry.

"Food need is as real and urgent a problem as food waste - and if a way could be found to bridge the gap between them, then it would address two problems in one," Charles wrote in an article for the "Big Issue," a magazine which is usually sold by homeless people.

"It is my great hope that this Coronation Food Project will find practical ways to do just that - rescuing more surplus food, and distributing it to those who need it most."

With his wife, Queen Camilla, Charles will spend his birthday visiting a surplus food distribution centre. He will meet major British supermarkets to see how his project can help redistribute food which would otherwise go to waste, which has become a real problem in terms of climate change.

In a March 2023 report, Carbon Brief  said "the global food system, from production through to consumption emits around 1/3 of total annual greenhouse gas emissions" with food waste "causing approximately half of this."

When food waste is left to decompose in landfills, it produces methane, a potent greenhouse gas that in a 20-year-period becomes "80 times more potent at warming than carbon dioxide," the UNDP said.

The European Commission adds methane is "the second most important greenhouse gas contributor to climate change following carbon dioxide."

According to the WWF, "about 6%-8% of all human-caused greenhouse gas emissions could be reduced if we stop wasting food." 

The Coronation Food Project says 14 million people in Britain face food insecurity, and as the rising cost of living has pushed even more into food poverty, charities say there has been a 38% rise in those using food banks for the first time in the year to March 2023.

The king, who held a celebratory event for other individuals and organisations also turning 75 on Monday, will also host a reception on Tuesday to herald the work of nurses and midwives, part of the events marking 75 years of the National Health Service. — Reuters