The all-encompassing journey of food–from growing, packaging, cooking, and eating–accounts for a large part of modern day society and naturally has a huge impact on our environment. Apart from delivering the nutrients humans need to function, food has become interwoven into all aspects of our daily lives. Eating creates jobs, memories, and satisfaction, but it also creates a significant amount of waste and contributes massive amounts of food-related trash to our landfills. The entire process of delivering food from its source to our mouths sheds so much waste along the way that fuels mankind’s destruction of Earth. Because eating is such a large part of everyday life, it also has the potential to be an area of notable improvement in regards to human’s effects on the environment. There are endless opportunities to alter the eating experience to become more environmentally friendly.
Before explaining the different avenues of eco-friendly improvements to the food industry, it is important to realize why this even matters. Most food packaging products that end up in landfills are made of Styrofoam or plastic. Styrofoam can contaminate water ways or litter our streets and can pose a threat to small animals mistaking it as food. Additionally, Styrofoam’s main component, polystyrene does not biodegrade and takes up valuable space in our landfills.
Additionally, plastic products, including plastic bags, water bottles, and other items associated with buying food take hundreds of years to decompose and often pollute bodies of water and city streets. According to one study, 80% of plastic water bottles end up in landfills, even thought they’re recyclable. Other common items that create unnecessary waste include Styrofoam takeout trays, plastic silverware, and plastic packaging. While most of the blame falls on consumers who don’t practice good recycling habits, food packaging companies, restaurants, and other players in the food industry should take certain actions to make it even easier for consumers to recycle and not create so much food-related waste.
The first step towards significant change begins with food companies themselves and their packaging choices. Food companies should ensure their entire packaging is made of recyclable materials despite the choice to recycle ultimately falling on the will of the consumers. A recent study found that only one third of England’s plastic food packaging is recyclable. In England and other countries all across the world, companies should prioritize using recyclable goods to at least give consumers the choice to recycle and reduce their carbon footprint while still supporting their business.
Restaurants and other constituents of the food industry who relay the food directly to consumers also have the ability to set forth meaningful change. While in-person dining usually doesn’t involve much plastic or Styrofoam waste per person, takeout and delivery often creates large amount of waste. The COVID-19 pandemic has only worsened unnecessary waste in this sense. For example, Penn State having to resort to take-out only operations for their dining halls resulted in the excessive use of Styrofoam takeout trays, plastic bags, and plastic silverware. Many students have been voicing their opinions that the dining hall experience needs to become more environmentally friendly, and they’re correct. Penn State should make it easier on students to be better advocates for climate change action by finding new recyclable materials for takeout. In addition to Penn State dining halls, restaurants should prioritize using recyclable paper products to serve their takeout and delivery guests.
Arguably the most important party in making the food service industry more environmentally friendly, consumers can easily adopt new behaviors to lessen their carbon footprint when buying and eating food. Some ideas to consider include avoiding single-use silverware, using reusable water bottles, composting leftover food waste, and always recycling when possible. Consumers are the final step on the food service ladder and must realize the effects their eating habits have on the environment.
As I mentioned in my previous blog, humans are running out of time to enact effective change. Sea levels are rising, global temperatures are warming, and glaciers are melting, and we only have 10 years to enact change before mankind faces irreversible catastrophic climate change, according to a UN press release. In order to make a serious impact on the way the food service affects the environment, all aspects of the industry must commit to becoming more mindful about their effect on climate change. Humans need to work together in combating the impending environmental crisis we are facing as a global society, and we need to act now.