Food Waste (Final Report)

What is food waste? Food waste is food that is intended for human consumption but ends up being wasted or lost. This refers not only to food that consumers don't finish at restaurants or that is thrown out at home, but also raw materials and produce that are lost in the farming and harvesting stages during transportation and storage. By the mid-century mark, the world population will most likely hit 9 billion people. This means that global food production must increase by 70% to meet this demand. Surprisingly, Americans waste about 40 percent, or about 125 - 140 billion pounds of food each year. The food that is currently wasted in Europe can feed 200 million people, and the food that is wasted in Africa and Latin America could feed 300 million people. Yet, there are currently over 800 million people who are facing hunger, which is equivalent to 11% of the global population.

Food waste can also have a significant effect on the environment, global and national economies, food security, and nutrition. For example, food waste ends up wasting a quarter of our water supply in the form of uneaten food. This is equal to 172 billion dollars in wasted water. Wasting food contributes to 11 percent of the world’s greenhouse gas emissions as well. The increasing demand for food also contributes to land degradation and deforestation, which, as a result, destroys our natural habitats and range of biodiversity, limiting the services that they provide to the Earth and disrupting entire ecosystems.

Where does most of our food go to waste? Our homes contribute to 43 percent of the total wasted food, and restaurants, grocery stores and food service companies contribute to 40 percent of our total wasted food. Half of all produce is thrown away in the United States because it is deemed too “ugly” to consume, which amounts to 60 million tons of fruits and vegetables being wasted every year. This explains why fruits and vegetables are the most commonly thrown out food. It seems we are stressing over the appearance of our product rather than its functionality. The rest of our food waste comes from farms and manufacturers, with farms accounting for 16 percent and factories accounting for 2 percent of total food waste. Surprisingly, the farming stage accounts for a good percentage of food loss in the global food supply chain. This is because farmers are driven by the socio-economic and market factors that shape the farming system, so they often overproduce, and food ends up being wasted.

There are many ways in which we can reduce our food waste. For one, we can always try to avoid buying too much. Taking trips to the grocery store more frequently throughout the week and meal prepping could be a solution instead of going once every 2 weeks and buying too much food, which could end up going bad.  We should also be more mindful when it comes to tossing out food that we may think has gone bad. More than 80 percent of Americans discard perfectly good food because they misunderstand food labels. Most people do not know the differences between “use by” and “best before” dates. Foods with “use by” dates must be eaten before the given date, but they won’t be at their best quality. You can also use vegetables that are wilting and use them in soups, smoothies, or baked dishes. Feeding hungry people and animals is another way we can reduce our food waste. Donating excess food to community sites or donating food scraps and waste to local farmers who can use them as animal feed, are some ways in which we can feed hungry people and animals. Planning meals for the week is an obvious one. This way, you know what you need for the week to cook meals. Finally, composting is a great way to reduce food waste. Food waste that is composted can be used to produce organic matter that is used to fertilize soil.

Food waste is one of the biggest environmental problems of our lifetime. It’s not just an issue that is prevalent in the rich, developed nations; it is occurring in all parts of our world. Food waste is something that can be reversed if we just learn to educate ourselves. Raising awareness and changing personal habits is the first step.

Here are some shocking facts about food waste:

-Taking in all resources to grow food, food waste uses up to 21% of freshwater, 19% of fertilizers. 18% of our croplands and 21% accounts for landfill volume.

-Food loss and waste accounts for approximately 4.4 gigatons of greenhouse gas emissions annually.

-An area larger than China and 25 percent of the world’s freshwater supply is used to grow food that is never eaten.

-We rely too much in appearance, so sometimes crops are left unharvested and rot. 

-In the United States, organic waste is the largest emitter of methane gas, which is a greenhouse gas that has 80 times the warming power of carbon dioxide.

-Breaking it down by food group that we waste and lose out on each year: 30 percent for cereals, 40-50 percent for root crops and fruits and vegetables, 20 percent for oil seed and meat and dairy and 35 percent for fish.

Food Waste Faqs. USDA. (n.d.). Retrieved November 30, 2022, from https://www.usda.gov/foodwaste/faqs

Lai, O. (2022, October 14). What is food waste? Earth.Org. Retrieved November 30, 2022, from https://earth.org/what-is-food-waste/