DAR ES SALAAM, July 17 -- EVERY day, thousands of households prepare meals with one purpose: To nourish their families. Breakfast fuels children before school, lunch sustains busy afternoons and dinner brings loved ones together at the end of the day.

Yet once the meals are over, leftovers often remain on plates, in cooking pots, or inside refrigerators, where they are forgotten until they spoil. Eventually, these once valuable food items are discarded and become part of the growing stream of household waste.

Although this habit may appear harmless, household food waste carries significant economic, social and environmental consequences that many families overlook. Every portion of edible food thrown away represents not only a missed op...