Food Waste: What You Can Do

Food waste is one of the most pervasive and serious issues affecting the world today. The scope of the issue is staggering; according to the USDA, between 30 and 40 percent of all food produced in the US every year is wasted. The United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) estimates that globally, one-third of all food produced every year, about 1.3 billion tons, is lost or wasted. 

This huge amount of food waste has a long list of wide-ranging implications from catastrophic environmental damage, shocking economic loss and the exacerbation of food insecurity around the world. When food is thrown away, it’s not just the food that is wasted. All of the land, water, labor, time, money and other resources that went into the growing, processing, marketing, transporting, packing and preparing of that food is also wasted.

However small and arbitrary it may seem, every time you throw away a moldy cucumber or a freezer burnt lasagna, the true cost is incalculable. The FAO estimates that every year, food wastage contributes 4.4 billion tons of carbon emissions to the world and costs the global economy $936 billion. The FAO also estimates that today, 820 million people, about one in every nine, does not have enough to eat. One of the saddest realities of food waste is that while the world produces more than enough food for everybody to consume, so many millions do not have enough to eat.  

Food waste is a massive challenge that urgently needs to be addressed with a concerted and conscientious effort from every one of us. As the world population continues to boom and the climate crisis continues to worsen, this is an issue that must be solved. Luckily, there are steps you can take to work towards solving the food waste crisis.

How You Can Help to Reduce Food Waste

Shop Smarter

We’ve all done it. You see something on sale at the grocery store, buy a bunch of it and throw it in the freezer. Fast forward fifteen months and it’s still there, forgotten and covered with ice crystals in a dark freezer drawer. The American Chemistry Council estimates that the average US household throws away $640 of food per year. 

Be more realistic when shopping; buying in bulk is not always best. It may seem more economical at the time, but if you don’t end up using the food, you’re actually costing yourself money. When you shop, consider how often you cook, how many people are in your household and what the shelf life on those items are. Don’t buy groceries on impulse so much, but instead plan menus, shop accordingly and buy what you need. Chances are, you’re probably over shopping now. 

Utilize Food Scraps

Too often, perfectly usable food is discarded because people simply don’t know it could have other uses. Simmer corn cobs to make wonderful corn stock, save the woody ends of asparagus for asparagus soup. Shave broccoli stems and use them in a salad. Many vegetable peels and herb stems can be used in stock as well. Greens from carrots, radishes, and beets are all edible and are actually quite tasty.  

Mushy bananas are perfect for banana bread, stale bread is great for stuffing or homemade breadcrumbs. Parmesan cheese rinds can be dropped into a marinara sauce to give it an incredible cheesy taste.

It may take a little effort, but lots of foods can be given new life. Also, keep in mind that many expiration dates are arbitrary, dried and canned items like pasta and beans can keep long after their use-by dates. 

Compost 

One of the most problematic aspects of throwing food away is the space it takes up in landfills and the emissions those landfills give off. Ninety percent of the food scraps in the US end up in landfills.

When you throw food away in a garbage bag and it’s buried underneath glass, plastic and cardboard, it doesn’t have the exposure to oxygen and to microorganisms that it needs to decay quickly. Thus, food in landfills decomposes precipitously slowly and gives off methane in the process.

A head of lettuce may take up to 25 years to decompose in a landfill; that same head of lettuce would break down in a matter of months in a compost heap in your backyard. Fruits and vegetables, eggshells and even paper towels all compost wonderfully. Composting is much better environmentally, is healthy for the soil and can give you a great product to use in your own garden. 

Eat Out Less

Restaurants are often pits of food waste; about forty percent of global food waste comes from the hospitality industry. Frequently, food waste isn’t necessarily the fault of the restaurant but rather the food laws that dictate when food needs to be discarded. For example, USDA regulations mandate that all buffet food that was out and exposed to customers needs to be thrown away at the end of the night. This certainly makes sense from a food safety perspective, but just realize how much food buffets waste. If the restaurant doesn’t order and prep their food efficiently, there may be a lot of waste.

In fine dining restaurants, perfectly good food is often thrown away for cosmetic reasons. Large chunks of edible meat may be trimmed off a fish filet so that it’s perfectly shaped. A spotty banana may be discarded just because it’s not perfect-looking. In general, when eating out, you have no idea how much food is wasted in that restaurant. So, you sacrifice any knowledge or control of the food wastage that you would have at home. 

Donate and Volunteer

While there are many useful steps you can take at home to reduce food waste, the problem needs to be tackled on large scales with the infrastructure, funding and manpower that only organizations, companies and governments can provide.

Fortunately, there are thousands of organizations around the world that are committed to reducing and repurposing food waste while improving food security. There are food rescues that rescue food from farms, restaurants, individuals and manufacturers and redistribute it to those in need. There are food advocacy groups lobbying to change legislation and raise awareness about food waste, research groups trying to find ways to more efficiently use our food and municipalities that are finding new methods to separate food waste from general trash and perform large scale composting.

If you have the means, one of the best things you can do to help the food waste problem is to donate your food, money and time to one of these incredible organizations. Given the dire and pressing nature of the food waste crisis and all of the impact it can have on our future, contributing to a cause is assuredly a worthy investment.