Food has been and always will be a part of culture and necessary in order for the sustainability of our lives. Food has even brought people together in festivities and other celebrations. One thing that's for certain is that we are simply wasting too much food. Everything from restaurants to buying unnecessary groceries are factors that contribute to this problem. Landfills where the food waste is stored are constantly getting overfilled. Thus the creation of more landfills is necessary to adapt to the problem. In 2011 alone, more than 36 million tons of food waste was generated, with only four percent diverted from landfills and incinerators for composting. As shown by the chart below, Food has become the majority of the waste in landfills.
What we benefit from maintaining what we waste:
Great benefits are produced when we become more careful of what and how much we buy. These benefits include environmental, economical, and social benefits.
Environmentally, we can reduce the emissions of methane, a gas that has 21 times the global warming potential to carbon dioxide. We will also need less resources that are typically used to grow the food such as water, energy, fertilizers and even pesticides. Soil structure and health can also be benefited by composting food. Food also simply thrown away in trash cans and dumpsters can attract unwanted pests. Composting can help to reduce some of these problems.
Some economic benefits include lowering the cost of the disposal. Money can also be saved if the trash is separated from what is going to be taken for composting. Buying only foods that are going to be used can also be a great way to save.
Feed the People:
An estimated 50 million Americans do not have access to enough food. A great way to give back is to donate healthy foods to organizations that feed the poor. Feeding America is the largest charitable hunger relief organization in America.They provide the opportunity for you to donate certain types of food to one of their 50,000 charitable agencies. Internationally, about 842 million people do not have enough to eat. European and North American consumers waste approximately 95-115kg of food a year. Compared to sub-Saharan parts of Africa and southern parts of Asia where not nearly as much is being wasted. Although, the vast majority of the food lost in America occurs in the production due to variables such as poor harvesting methods and in the storage and transportation parts of the process. Food policy manager at WWF in the UK claims that a part of the problem relies on our diets stating that "We're increasingly switching to high-input diets with a lot of meat," he said. "In England, we eat 400% more chicken than we did 50 years ago. And food waste is not equal: if you compare a wasted chicken to a wasted salad, they are massively different. We should be eating more plants and wasting less, but you have to look at meat. We should be shifting to more sustainable diets."
I think that he makes a valid point because in just 50 years our diet has change drastically. If we can improve our diet, in another 50 years, progress can surely be noted. If we can make the small changes now, we can improve the planet for everyone.
Resources:
http://www.theguardian.com/global-development-professionals-network/2013/nov/07/stopping-the-rot-in-the-food-supply-chain
http://www.epa.gov/foodrecovery/fd-donate.htm
http://polycentric.csupomona.edu/news_stories/2012/09/cafe-green-alt-food-waste.html
http://civileats.com/2013/05/03/the-environmental-action-everyone-overlooks-five-easy-ways-to-reduce-food-waste/
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