Waste Of Food Waste

Food Waste is a major issue in the United States. It takes up much needed room in landfills, it is a financial burden, and it contributes to the rise in hunger.

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.

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.

At present, much of the edible food of Australia is being needlessly thrown away. This problem should be controlled, due to the fact that is one of the most significant causes of environmental disasters. In addition, it may entail issues related to hunger in both wealthy and poor countries.

Everyday, throughout the world, restaurants throw away large amounts of uneaten food. Public Health laws prevent them from re-serving or reusing this food, and, for similar reasons, they cannot simply give it away to hungry people. We opted to review this as our messy situation due to the impact that this has on people and the environment.

From farm to table getting our food and produce to the consumer is a tricky task. Even with all the planning millions of food ends up wasted a year. Many steps are already taken to reduce the amount of food being wasted but are they enough? In America alone 200 to 250 pounds is wasted per person per year! According the world resources institute “32 percent of the world’s food was never consumed in 2009”.

Have you thought about how much food is wasted? Just think about your supper last night did you throw any food away if you did have you ever thought about where it goes or what happens to it? Many people don’t realize that there is a lot of food that is thrown away every year. Not only do people in their homes throw away food but grocery stores also throw out a lot of food too. “Most people believe that grocery stores should donate their food instead of throwing it away but the reason why many stores don’t donate their food is because many stores either don’t want to get sued or many grocery stores don’t know that they should be donating it.” ( Jacobs)

This paper will examine the problem of food waste in the United States. Firstly, this paper will describe what food waste is, and why food waste in the American society is an immense issue that needs to be addressed. In addition, it will address the consequences of food waste and the possible problems that this issue may bring in the future. Secondly, the paper will discuss three policy solutions that would help solve the problem of food waste in the United States: provide an enhanced tax deduction for corporations that choose to donate their food to the food banks, performing an extensive study that covers every single aspect of food waste in the current food system, and require every citizen to compost their food waste. Afterwards, it will analyze the pros and cons, and the hypothetical strengths and vulnerabilities of each policy solution. Lastly, this paper will discuss personal opinions on the issue of food waste.

Food waste is defined as food that can be consumed but for whatever reason goes uneaten. It was first addressed in 1977 when a report was sent to congress from the General Accounting Office. Within the report the United States Department of Agriculture’s role in food waste as well as several other aspects of food waste such as pollution and growing populations are still relevant today were spoken of (Buzby et al. 1). However in the years following the publication of this report, food waste has not lessened and instead has exponentially worsened from twenty percent in 1977 to forty percent as of 2012 (Finn et al.

The DC Central Kitchen is trying to solve the issue of food waste. Robert Egger founded this organization from past experiences of volunteering to help problems like hunger and homelessness. “DC Central Kitchen’s mission is to use food as a tool to strengthen bodies, empower minds, and build communities. DC Central Kitchen is committed to getting students excited about eating their vegetables.” They “transform 3,000 pounds of otherwise wasted food into 5,000 healthy meals.” The meals are cooked by chefs and not pre-packaged or canned goods and they distribute the food to 80 partner agencies that consist of homeless shelters, rehabilitation centers and afterschool programs. Last year they recovered 743,885 pounds of food from grocery stores

INOVA Fairfax Medical Campus is the system flagship location with 833 registered beds for adults and children and a nationally recognized neon-natal intensive care unit spanning many specialties and high acuity patients. Chef Dave (personal communication, October 8, 2014) averages of 1,445 patient meals are served per day. Patient meals, as well as four retail spaces and numerous caterings each day, leaves a lot of space for food waste, some necessary, but most of which can be controlled or donated if monitored properly. Currently, our TrimTrax Program shows that we are throwing away an average of 22 quarts of the food each day. I suspect that the number is much higher considering the wild swing in numbers reported For example, January cites 1,886 quarts and July and August both miss half of the numbers with 189 and 56 quarts respectively. To continue the company’s great track record of corporate social responsibility, we can implement a donation program with local food banks and low cost. According to European Commission, (2009) “Good corporate citizens command more respect than ever before, not least because the behavior of companies is more visible than it has been in the past”(Para. 8). Behavior

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

One in seven American households lack a proper amount of food to maintain a healthy lifestyle. United States waste 133 billion pounds of food yearly. In 2010, supermarkets and grocery stores in the US tossed out 43 billion pounds, or $46.7 billion worth of food. (Dvorsky) Even with so many people in need of food it is unbelievable the amount of food going to waste at markets and restaurants. Given how many people go hungry in the United States each year, it is clear that an immediate change is necessary. There are many reasons why grocery stores should be forced to donate there pre-expired food, mainly to help those people not getting enough food, to reduce the amount of waste going to landfills.

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.

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