Food Waste In Early America

The USDA claims that each year, 25.9 million tons of America’s food is thrown away, the equivalent to a quarter of the total amount produced. Nationally, the wasted food is a damaging financial setback, amounting to $1 billion just to get rid of during a time of ascending food prices, nonetheless (Oliver, 2007). Food waste has skyrocketed since 1970 at an astonishing 50% increase rate, yet according to the FAO, one-sixth of America doesn’t get enough to eat.

There is enough food waste in America to fill up 730 football stadiums. Yet, ironically there were almost 50 million people who live in households that are food-insecure in 2013. Thus, it is critically important to help reduce (or at the very least reevaluate) the amount of food that is wasted so it can be used to help those who can’t always afford it, or, help to reduce the impact of methane released by landfills, or, help to use less resources gone into making the produce.

Food waste is an environmental, economic, and ethical problem that can lead to less calorie intake and unnecessary damage of our assets. Individual behavior can redesign food waste at home and lead to bigger changes in the ecosystem. The problem is Americans throw out more food than glass, paper, and plastic. Also about 25% of food grown, processed, and transported in the US will never be consumed. When food is disposed in a landfill it rots and becomes a significant source of methane— a potent greenhouse gas with 21 times the global warming potential of carbon dioxide.

Have you ever stopped to question what happens after food waste ends up as landfill? The food waste breaks down into methane and carbon dioxide (greenhouse gases) which poses risks to our health if greater amounts are released. The UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) estimated the carbon footprint of wasted food to be equivalent to 3.3 billion tonnes of carbon dioxide per year. Further, the storing of food waste occupies a lot of land - agricultural land. Food waste fills the MSG six times! Not only is land utilized for the production of crops now unavailable, the habitats of animals are also taken up, leading to a loss of biodiversity. Because of our careless and wasteful behavior, animals are dying. It is a

Now, more than ever, people are wasteful of the one thing we require most; food. We dispose of food at such a rate that it literally becomes waste which others

If we keep on this path of not caring if we waste food we will have a serious problem because we will have a serious food shortage, and because of the wasted water

In this summary I will briefly explain the entirety of my senior project essay which has to do with food waste. I will talk about four major sections in which I divided my senior project into to help me write it. First was how much food is wasted not just here in the U.S. alone, but the world in general, second describes the negative affects food waste has in the world, third explains and gives reasons why some of this food goes to waste, and finally the final section gives the reader information on how we as individuals and as a nation combined can reduce the amount of food waste.

There are billions of people struggling every day to have enough to eat, and billions of tons of food being tossed in the garbage, food waste is gaining increasing awareness as a serious environmental and economic issue. Research shows that about 60 million metric tons of food is wasted a year in the United States, with an estimated value of $162 billion. About 32 million tons of it end up in landfills, at a cost of about $1.5 billion a year to local government this economic crisis is worldwide! My research estimates that a third of all the food produced in the world is never consumed, and the total cost of that food waste could be as high as $400 billion a year. The food discarded by retailers and consumers in the most developed countries would be more than enough to feed all of the world’s hungry people, but it is not just those countries that have problems with food waste, it is also an issue in African countries like South Africa. The problem is expected to grow worse as the world’s population increases, unless actions are taken to reduce the waste. Food waste is not only a social cost, but it contributes to growing environmental problems like global warming, experts say, with the production of food consuming vast quantities of water, fertilizer and land. The fuel that is burned to process, refrigerate and transport it also adds to the environmental cost. Most food waste is thrown away in landfills, where it decomposes and emits methane, a potent greenhouse gas.

        To start off, food waste can occur anywhere along the production chain. This means that food waste can occur at a farm, restaurant, school, or home. For instance, a restaurant

All of us have most likely wasted food in one way or another, some people without thinking about it, others without caring. But when we scrape off our plates after a large meal, unable to finish the remaining’s because we’re too full, we rarely stop to think about the meaning and the consequences of our actions. It is said that about one-third of all the food we produce in the world is wasted. Therefore, food waste has quickly become a highly ranked global issue. It has become a serious problem in our society where the consequences are bigger than you might think.

Wasting food is a bad habit that affects all of society and we continue to implicate ourselves in the problem. Of the total of food loss that is going on about 40 percent is in the household. Overall a typical household of four loses about 600 dollars in food a year. (Jones 11)

There are billions of people struggling every day to have enough to eat, and billions of tons of food being tossed in the garbage, food waste is gaining increasing awareness as a serious environmental and economic issue. Research shows that about 60 million metric tons of food is wasted a year in the United States, with an estimated value of $162 billion. About 32 million tons of it end up in landfills, at a cost of about $1.5 billion a year to local government this economic crisis is worldwide! My research estimates that a third of all the food produced in the world is never consumed, and the total cost of that food waste could be as high as $400 billion a year. The food discarded by retailers and consumers in the most developed countries would be more than enough to feed all of the world’s hungry people, but it is not just those countries that have problems with food waste, it is also an issue in African countries like South Africa. The problem is expected to grow worse as the world’s population increases, unless actions are taken to reduce the waste. Food waste is not only a social cost, but it contributes to growing environmental problems like global warming, experts say, with the production of food consuming vast quantities of water, fertilizer and land. The fuel that is burned to process, refrigerate and transport it also adds to the environmental cost. Most food waste is thrown away in landfills, where it decomposes and emits methane, a potent

When we think of food waste we tend to assume that because food can decompose we are not harming the environment. This is absolutely incorrect; there are different resources that are utilized to make the food taste up to par and stay fresh up until being displayed on the shelves and beyond. All the food we do not consume they have to be dumped somewhere and that will be in the landfills we create. When there is food decomposed in landfills “[it] hastens the building of new ones, with their environmental concerns. In short, we're burying more pockets of potential pollution, with storm overflow and leachate leakage major concerns” (Bloom, p. 10). We are polluting our air with the amount of food we throw away causing the landfills to no longer be an open space but a concealed zip log bag that contains the food we no longer wanted. The amount of food waste that can be recycled is the bare minimum to none. Have you ever drove on through an area and began to smell rotten eggs? Well, that is all because of these landfills we enjoy creating to hold our unwanted food. We can prevent the amount of food we waste and landfills created if the awareness of food waste stays relevant.

Growing research shows steady increase in food waste throughout the globe. One largely contributing factor is food waste produced from the public schools. The amount of food wasted in schools, according to the USDA, has ranged between 10-37% of calories served (Buzby, J., Guthrie, J., 2002). It is difficult to compare public-school waste to global amounts due to the scarcity of specific data -- this would depend on region, economic status and additional factors associated with how and why food is wasted in schools. Having said that, this is a large enough problem that it is actively noticed and prompting intervention. With these numbers rising, food waste negatively impacts costs for the community, carbon emissions, water use and more.

The issue of food waste is one that many people might not consider to be serious, but it is critical to the environment that a solution is devised. Fortunately, there are many simple things that people all over the world can do to keep the Earth healthy. First, if farmers and agricultural employees would prevent overgrazing, pesticide pollution, and over plowing, water would be saved, and the general health of the