Food Waste Management : What Effect Does Household Waste

Bloom, J. (2010). American wasteland: How America throws away nearly half of its food (and what we can do about it). Cambridge: Da Capo Press.

We as human beings already acknowledge that we create a ton of waste and there are many different approaches that we have taken to help minimize them and to dispose of the wastes correctly. Over the years things such as recycling has become more of a common thing, especially here within Fort Collins. Wastes can come in many different forms ranging from human waste to food waste and so much more. In result these different types of wastes usually cause negative impacts on our environment, such as a depletion in the ozone layer, the destruction of an ecosystem, and the overall downgrade of the Earth’s health. Yet as a result groups, programs, and campaigns, such as Save Your Food, have arisen to the spotlight to help fix certain problems like food wastage.

From the moment in time which marked the emergence of the human race, food has been an integral part of society. It has served as more than just sustenance aiding in the formation of cultures, civilizations, and technologies. However as the human mind evolved, so too did views on the value of food. The degradation of these views has resulted in between 1.3 and 2.2 billion tons of food being wasted globally each year (Finn et al. 2). Most Americans are guilty of having to thrown away a forgotten piece of food that has spoiled, but the problem is far bigger than that. Annually thirty-four million tons of food waste finds its way into American landfills (Buzby et al. 2). Unfortunately a majority of American citizens are ignorant to this fact. These citizens perceive the food they seen thrown away as the lost of a few dollar at the most and therefore not a serious problem. However, a large number of the United States’ social, economic, and environmental issues which need to be understood and addressed can be attributed to food waste.

I personally believe that the problem of food waste starts with the people, since whenever somebody buys groceries they get more food than what is necessary. Americans end up buying more than 300 billion pounds of food, when they only need around 5 to satisfy the hunger requirements of every single family in the nation. It becomes impossible to understand when people starve in the streets.

Food is simply too good to waste. And while the loss of some food is inevitable, the amount of food Americans waste everyday has reached an all time high, and still continues to grow. The process by which food is produced uses 10% of the national energy budget, 50% of U.S. land, and 80% of the freshwater in the United States. (Gunders, 2012). Yet, 40% or 133 billion pounds of the food grown in this country goes to waste every year (Buzby, 2014). Reducing food losses by just 15% would be enough to feed more than 25 million Americans every year, when one in six Americans lack a secure supply of food to their tables (Gunders, 2012). Schools are one of the largest contributors to plate waste. A study by Richard Cohen reveals that plate waste accounts

Trash. What is considered trash? Trash, is a subjective term. For some, it’s the whole, “waste not, want not”, “one man’s trash is another man’s treasure”, etc. We’ve all heard these age old adages, but how much do we, as concerned Americans truly take this to heart when it comes to food waste? Some may argue that an expiration date is some magical sign to throw food away, which, does have some truth to it. No one wants to eat food that’s expired, and therefore, will make one sick. However, as a nation, America contributes to food waste by holding a staggering forty percent of the world’s food waste total (Flick). If America contributes to almost half of the world’s food waste, then it stands to reason that America is the most

Household waste and the way Americans dispose of their trash is a huge source of food waste, if not the biggest. According to the article, Food waste within food supply chains: quantification and potential for change to 2050, American families throw out between 14 and 25 percent of the food and beverages they buy, costing the average family between $1,365 to $2,275 annually. A big factor of how America families are able to waste so much food is that food has become very cheap and readily available. Food costs less in the United States than nearly anywhere else in the world. As Brad Plumer said, “Most people reason, what's the big deal if some of it gets tossed?” They think there is no big harm in throwing away food because it was not that expensive, but in reality, it all just piles up. There is also a lot of confusion around expiration labels, with there being more than 10 different variations of expiration date phrasing. The different phrases tend to puzzle people and often prompt them to throw out food before its time. People think that "best if used by" means that food item cannot be eaten past that date or they will get sick. The same applies for "better if used by" and "sell by." People often just toss food out early and stay on the safe side. "Best if used by," usually applies mostly to non-perishable foods. The term describes product quality, where the product may not taste as good as it would if it were fresher but is still safe to eat or drink. The "use by" date

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.

Food waste is an issue that needs to be addressed right away. It is a continuing problem which plays a major role in harming the economy and the environment. The amount of food waste in America has increased by fifty percent in the last forty years. There has been minor effort: buying only the amount of food that will be eaten and feeding animals with unwanted food. These efforts, however, cannot affect America on a scale that the government can. The government should take actions and levy tax on food waste produced by Americans. Tax regulations will result in reduced amount of waste, and the government can spend more on feeding those who are starving all over the world. Putting tax on food waste will minimize food waste, benefiting the U.S. economy and the environment.

The United States of America has come a long way since its inception. The development of homes, cars, technologies, goods, and services has evolved. Also, the way in which Americans consume has drastically changed. And with all these great things, came solid waste generation, and unfortunately not methods for disposing of it in an environmentally friendly manner. The United States is the top trash-producing country in the world at over 1,600 pounds per person per year. Although the U.S. accounts for 5% of the world’s population, it generates 40% of the world’s waste. According to the Environmental Protection Agency’s Municipal Solid Waste Generation, Recycling, and Disposal in the United States: Facts and Figures for 2010 “Americans generated about 250 million tons of trash and recycled and composted over 85 million tons of materials, resulting in 34.1 percent recycling rate. On average, each American generates about 4.43 pounds of waste each day. Only 1.51 pounds of that material were recycled and composed” (EPA, 2010).

According to Pope Francis “Throwing away food is like stealing from the table of those

Food waste is a global problem and the United States is one of the biggest offenders. According to recent statistics, “Every year, the United States throws away one-third of all the food it produces — 133 billion pounds of food. And grocery stores are responsible for tossing 10% of that food” (Jacobs). While this may seem like an insignificant percentage, the cause of this waste is due to egregious and inefficient practices perpetrated by larger retail grocery chains designed to drive revenue rather than efficiently use resources. Due to grocery store’s focus on revenue driving practices, stores contribute to food waste by providing misleading product expiration labeling, overstocking displays, and feeble attempts at distributing unused goods

Over the course of the last 47 years our level of wasted food has increased by 40% meaning that we throw away one third of our food. This problem is also more devastating than most people realize. We waste billions of dollars of food and the amount of food that just the united states wastes in one year could fill 730 football stadiums. This food waste also is hurting the environment in a major way, increasing our CO2 levels exponentially. All of this food that we waste could be going to serving the homeless and starving. The best way to start to make positive change in food waste levels is to begin to recognize the problem, spread awareness for the environmental damage it does, and to start to implement policies that give small businesses

There are some reasons for the problem. The first reason is that the effects of the thrown rubbish are very dangerous and extremely harmful. According to Miller (1987), global industrial organizations produce over 80,000 different chemicals (para. 5). Basically, garbage is old, dirty and wet, so that it is a perfect place for bacteria and other viruses to stay in. Rubbish growth in cities has been a problem all over the world for centuries. Landfills have always been regarded as sources of illnesses and unpleasant smells. The harmful wastes from the garbage spread through the ground from paint, chemicals, petrol, batteries, and other toxic materials that have been thrown away into the garbage. The toxic chemicals get into the water pipes and spread through the people’s drinking water. Another reason of that problem is that people have created all these disasters, which are connected with environmental pollution. The more modern technologies are created, the more unbelievable become wastes and remains of what is produced. From this, man is responsible for what he or she created and for the following consequences. Anxieties about the environment have made people more aware of their environmental footprints or the kind of waste they leave behind during their existence. The difficulty is that an average person leaves an incredible amount of wastes in his or her lifetime. According to Lovejoy (1912), all biodegradable substances, contained in

Food losses and food waste (FLW) have become a global concern in recent year and is widely identified as a key barrier to global sustainability due to its adverse impacts on food security, natural resources (e.g. land, water and energy), environment (e,g. greenhouse fas emissions), and human health (e.g. toxic emissions from incineration) (FAO, 2017; Katajajuuri et al., 2012; Pham et al, 2015). Food loss and food waste refer to the decrease of food in subsequent stages of the food supply chain intended for human consumption (FAO website). The food is lost or wasted throughout the supply chain from initial production down to final household consumption. Food waste could happen by intentional or accidental, but definitely lead to less food available for all. When food is wasted, the resources and energy put into the production is also wasted. The United Nations Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) reported that approximately one third of the food produced in the world for human consumption every year gets lost or wasted globally, which is roughly 1.3 billion tonnes. Global climate change such as unnecessary green house gas emissions and inefficiently used water and land were impacted by food loss and waste, which in turns leads to diminishing the natural ecosystems and the service they provided (Filho and Kovaleva, 2015). The carbon and water footprint of this significant amount of FLW were estimated to be 4.4 gigatons (or 8% of the world’s total) of CO2 equivalent and 250