WASHINGTON — The Inter-American Development Bank (I.D.B.) has brought together food and technology companies to fight food waste in Latin America and the Caribbean. According to the organization, more than 127 million tons of food per year goes unused in the region while nearly 42 million residents grapple with undernutrition.

IBD’s #SinDesperdicio (#NoWaste) initiative seeks to bring better public policies and innovative outreach to the area with help from Grupo Bimbo, Nestle, Coca-Cola Co., Dow Chemical, the FEMSA Foundation, IBM and Oxxo. Other strategic partners include the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization, the Global Food Banking Network, the Consumer Goods Forum, and the World Resources Institute.

The initiative’s goals align with the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals 12.3 that asks all nations to halve food waste and reduce food loss by 2030.

#SinDesperdicio hopes to achieve that target through four measures. It will use technology to reduce waste in supply chains, advance legislation and public policy to encourage sustainability, develop reports to track progress and opportunities and promote eco-friendly behavior among consumers and food suppliers.

“Meeting these goals will demand effort from all of us,” said Julie Katzman, executive vice-president, I.D.B. “This associates’ platform is a starting point to reduce food losses and waste, a fundamental agenda to achieve our objective of improving lives in Latin America and the Caribbean.”

Alejandra Vázquez, global sustainability manager at Grupo Bimbo applauded I.D.B. for leading the effort.

“As founding members of #SinDesperdicio we are also taking one more step toward our purpose to help make this world a better place,” she said. “We congratulate the I.D.B. for this initiative and we are sure that by joining efforts and synergies, we will reduce food loss in the region together.”