Food Waste for Thought (2024)

FAQs

What is a thought about food waste? ›

“Cutting food waste is a delicious way of saving money, helping to feed the world and protect the planet.” – Tristram Stuart, English author and environmental campaigner. 10. “We are trashing our land to grow food that no one eats.” – Tristram Stuart.

Aim to cook and serve the right portions for the number of people you are feeding. Freeze, pickle, dehydrate, can, or make jam/jelly from surplus fruits and vegetables - especially abundant seasonal produce. Don't leave perishable food at room temperature for more than two hours.

Waste is any substance discarded after primary use, or is worthless, defective and of no use. A by-product, by contrast is a joint product of relatively minor economic value.

But wasted food isn't just a social or humanitarian concern—it's an environmental one. When we waste food, we also waste all the energy and water it takes to grow, harvest, transport, and package it. And if food goes to the landfill and rots, it produces methane—a greenhouse gas even more potent than carbon dioxide.

It contributes greenhouse gas emissions, uses freshwater that we can ill afford to sacrifice, costs millions of farm animals their lives and accounts for billions of dollars' worth of human labour, not to mention the vast forests cut down and wetlands drained to produce food that is never eaten, or the mountains of ...

Food waste is a major contributor to climate change. It's responsible for 8% of all global carbon emissions, making up most items in our landfills. Growing food requires lots of water, fuel, and fertilizer.

Food waste that is not recycled may be sent to landfill where it rots, causing a huge negative impact on the environment by releasing methane – a harmful greenhouse gas that is 25 times more potent than carbon dioxide. Some local councils send their non-recyclable waste to be incinerated to create useful energy.

When food is wasted, so too is the land, water, labor, energy, and other inputs that are used in producing, processing, transporting, preparing, storing, and disposing of the discarded food.

How to avoid food waste essay? ›

Food waste often refers to food not ultimately consumed by humans that is discarded or recycled, such as plate waste (i.e., food that has been served but not eaten), spoiled food, or peels and rinds considered inedible.

Relatedly, most Americans (71%) report feeling guilty when they throw food away, and 60% identify guilt as one of their primary motivators for trying to minimize the amount of food they waste.

Food “waste” refers to food that is fit for consumption but consciously discarded at the retail or consumption phases.

3 WRAP identified several reasons why people throw away food: they buy or cook too much, or they do not eat the food they have in time; the food becomes inedible before people eat it.