Hello Civic Issue Blog. So we meet again. Today, I will be crafting my final Civic Issues Blog entry for the year. I enjoyed utilizing this blog to explore important issues across our global society and develop my personal writing and research skills. Thanks for reading throughout the past year!
To continue with the theme of my second semester Civic Issues Blog, I will be exploring another human behavior associated with destroying our planet’s ecosystem: food waste. Last entry, I explored the consequences of plastic food packing, improper recycling, and how each stakeholder can help correct it.
Another detrimental part of the eating experience is food waste. According to the National Resources Defense Council, America wastes about 40% of its food each year. This systemic issue runs deeper than merely throwing out the crust of a slice of pizza; every player involved in the supply chain of delivering a food product to consumers contributes to food waste.
From production to consumption, unwanted or insufficient food products are wasted. Fresh produce and seafood have the highest loss rates, with 17% of initial salad greens being thrown away before processing and packaging. Losses in processing are less significant, which mainly involves trimming parts of food that aren’t good enough to sell to consumers, like pits, bones, and fat. Often times these parts can go towards animal feed, but it’s still worthy to note how much food is lost along the way.
In 2010, the USDA estimated grocery retail food losses to equate to about 43 million pounds, or 10% of the total retail food supply, mostly from perishable goods. American restaurants and institutions like university or hospital cafeterias account for about 25 billion and 10 billion pounds of food waste per year, respectively. Most notably, the American consumer base accounts for 76 billion pounds of food waste each year, or 238 pounds of food per person. These statistics emphasize the severity of the issue and how every constituent of the food service industry contributes to the growing amount of food wasted per year.
The negative environmental repercussions of these horrifically high amounts of waste should be no surprise. As of 2017, food waste accounted for 21% of U.S. landfill contents and was the biggest sole contributor based on weight. When food waste sits in a landfill and rots away, it emits methane, a greenhouse gas that directly contributes to the warming of Earth’s atmosphere. According to Forbes.com, for the amount of food wasted each year in the United States, growing, transporting, and letting it rot away in landfills accounts for the yearly emission of as much carbon pollution as 39 million passenger vehicles.
In addition to the direct effects on the atmosphere while in the landfill, food waste also uses up other valuable resources along the way. Wasting 40% of food each year also results in using 21% of available freshwater, 19% of available fertilizer, and 18% of available cropland each year. Just as the food itself is wasted all throughout its supply chain, so are the resources associated with its production.
Food waste is an issue that deserves more attention from politicians, the public, and the media. Most people probably don’t think of food waste as a huge contributor to climate change, but the facts and statistics don’t lie: it’s a problem that needs to be addressed. There are many practical ways to improve this problem, starting with the producer.
Producers and retailers, such as farms and grocery stores, can partner with companies that specialize in food composting, such as one seen here. Composting significantly reduces methane emissions and limits the increase of atmospheric temperature. Huge grocery store chains, especially, likely have the capital to invest in this environmentally-friendly venture, and it would be great for publicity as well.
Local restaurants and other small businesses could explore composting companies, as well, or they could partner with local food pantries. Restaurants can’t sell expired goods, even though most of the time the food is still safe to eat. Giving back to charitable organizations not only decreases the amount of food waste, but it also helps those in need.
Lastly, consumers arguably have the most control over their food waste. When buying easily perishable food like salad greens, avoid buying bulk when not necessary to prevent waste. In other instances, buying bulk is a good idea to avoid the extra packaging, though. Consumers can also compost their food waste in backyard or community composting areas.
As with most climate change issues, the power is in the people. Food waste is a human-created issue, and we must be the ones to solve it. In order to preserve the planet for the next generations, we must enact change now. For further information and advice, visit websites like epa.gov or environmentamerica.org.