Over one-third of the world's food production goes to waste while almost 700 million people in the world go to bed hungry every night. 

Spain has set itself the ambitious target of cutting food waste down to half by 2030. Earlier this year, the country passed a pioneering law that has the food industry reassessing its operations all across the cycle.

The law includes legal obligations for supermarkets to sell so-called ugly fruits and vegetables at discounted prices in supermarkets. It will also require cafes and restaurants to offer eco containers for customers to take leftovers home and ask companies all the way up the food chain to come up with a plan to avoid food waste. 

CGTN met with Juan Manuel Menendez Sanz, the third generation to run the family fruit shop in the Chamberi neighborhood in central Madrid which opened its doors in 1949.

Bruised peaches and brown bananas

He shows a basket of fruit – bruised peaches, brown bananas and sentimental strawberries – which he says are perfectly good to eat and that it would be a crime to throw these away.

The good news is, he isn't going to. 

Sanz's business is signed up to the Too Good to Go app, a digital platform that helps reduce food waste. 

He sells the slightly different fruit and vegetables at a discount price, publishing the offers on the app.

Created in Copenhagen in 2015, Too Good to Go now has 100 million users in 19 countries, connecting people with companies selling food at discounted prices that would otherwise end up in the bin.

"We know that 40 percent of all food produced is wasted. That's about 2.5 billion tons of food globally each year. So it is a big, big challenge," Marie Lindstrom, the Too Good to Go Country Director in Spain tells CGTN.

"We also know that food waste is responsible for 10 percent of greenhouse gas emissions," she adds.

'Too soon to judge'

Their business has been boosted by Spain's first ever food waste law that passed through parliament in March.

At a local Madrid food bank that helps feed 100,000 people every day, the volunteer management team says the law is making a difference.

"While it's too soon to judge and we don't have the data yet, in general we are seeing less and less excess food being produced," says Mila Benito, the Madrid Food Bank Foundation Marketing and Communications Director.

"We are getting more donations from more companies, but in smaller amounts. They are trying harder to avoid overproduction," Benito tells CGTN, as he stands next to pallets of cooking oil, tomato sauce, mustard, eggs, and other products bound for local food bank distribution centres, community associations, charities and churches.

Public debate and awareness

But apart from the physical waste, the law's greatest achievement might be that it has brought the issue into the public's collective conscience.

"A very important thing that's helping reduce waste is a greater public debate, more people are talking about this. That's really important because when there's a debate there's more awareness," affirms Benito.

Awareness can be a powerful tool in the fight against food waste, with 60 percent of it coming from homes around the world. 

That means this is not just about food, it's a massive waste of resources that amounts to up to 10 percent of the world's annual global greenhouse emissions and 17 trillion liters of water.

"Almost a third of all the agricultural land that we're using is used to produce food that in the end is wasted. And on top of that, it's transport, labor and electricity," explains Lindstrom.

At the very least – with this new law, new technologies, and a new debate surrounding food waste – imperfect peaches and unloved melons are increasingly finding happy homes in Spain.