Beyond the Bin: Novella Foods Fight Against Food Waste
Novella Foods stands for a future where great taste never comes at the cost of needless food waste. In 2026, that commitment matters more than ever, because the world is throwing away more food than our planet can afford.
Why Food Waste Matters in 2026 ?
Every year, the world wastes around 2.5 billion tonnes of food, more than one third of everything produced for human consumption. This squandered food is valued at roughly 230 billion dollars and represents about 24% of all available food calories, even as hundreds of millions of people still face hunger. Food waste is also a climate issue: globally, discarded food is responsible for an estimated 8–10% of greenhouse gas emissions, largely from methane released when food rots in landfills. When food is wasted, all the land, water, energy and labour that went into producing it are wasted too.
India’s Food Waste Challenge
India is now among the top two countries in the world for household food waste, generating more than 78 million tonnes each year. On average, households in India throw away about 54–55 kg of food per person annually, food that could feed around 377 million people if it were used instead of dumped. Beyond homes, India loses an estimated ₹92,651 crore worth of food every year because of weak supply chains, storage gaps and poor handling, with nearly 16% of fruits and vegetables wasted before they ever reach a plate. The food service industry alone contributes about 22 million tonnes of food waste annually, from buffets, restaurants, events and catering.
Zero Food Waste: The Novella Foods Vision
At Novella Foods, zero food waste is not just a trend; it is a design principle that shapes how products are developed, processed, stored and delivered. This begins with sourcing, where tight forecasting and demand planning help reduce overproduction and surplus inventory. Efficient cold-chain management and better packaging extend shelf life and cut losses that typically happen during transport and storage. Within production, process optimisation and continuous monitoring sharply reduce line losses, trimmings and rejected batches that would traditionally be discarded. Wherever safe and compliant, surplus ingredients are repurposed into new formats or re-routed to partners for secondary use, ensuring edible food does not end up in the bin.
From Kitchen Habits to Community Impact
Households are one of the biggest frontlines in the fight against food waste, especially in a country where per capita waste is rising with urban lifestyles and changing food habits. Simple actions—planning meals, storing ingredients correctly, using leftovers creatively and serving realistic portions—can dramatically reduce the amount of food that leaves our kitchens as garbage. Community behaviour matters too: weddings, celebrations, hotels and restaurants together generate millions of tonnes of food waste every year, even though many events could easily integrate smarter menu planning and donation systems. Indian culinary traditions already offer solutions; from nose-to-tail and root-to-stem cooking to transforming “yesterday’s food” into today’s tiffin, traditional practices demonstrate how flavourful zero-waste cooking can be.
An Invitation to Join the Zero Waste Journey
If the world is wasting more than a third of its food while hunger and climate risks grow, no brand can afford to treat food waste as “someone else’s problem.” In India especially, where over 78 million tonnes of edible food are discarded each year, every meal and every menu choice is a chance to do better. Novella Foods invites consumers, partners, and retailers to join this journey: plan smarter, store smarter and cook smarter. Together, it is possible to transform the story of food in 2026 from one of excess and waste to one of respect, responsibility and shared abundance.