America’s Food Waste Problem
The effects of America’s food waste problem and what can be done to stop it.
In the US, we waste around 30% to 40% of our food supply. This includes both food thrown away on the retail level (that which is not sold) and the consumer level (the food we buy but throw away).
This means that food waste is the single largest source of waste in US landfills.
A waste of resources
Firstly, this massive share of food being thrown away means that all the resources which have been used to produce the food – such as electricity, water, or livestock feed – have been wasted too. This is especially problematic with high-resource foods which spoil in a short amount of time. Meat is the most impactful example. Red meat especially is the single most resource-intensive food commonly consumed in western societies, yet it spoils in 3-4 days when refrigerated.
Food production is also often responsible for large amounts of pollution released into the environment – most importantly pesticides and livestock manure. If the food then ends up wasted, it means that all this pollution was created for nothing.
Contributing to climate change
However, there is another serious issue stemming from the US’ food waste issue. Food which is sent to landfill lacks the conditions it needs to decompose properly, mainly access to oxygen. Because of that, it doesn’t decompose and releases methane into the atmosphere – a greenhouse gas more than 80 times more powerful than CO2 in the short term.
If we hope to tackle climate change, we need to stop wasting so much food and sending it to landfills.
How should we dispose of any food waste, then? It’s as simple as learning how to compost or signing up for local waste collections. In a compost, food waste has the optimum conditions it needs to become one with the earth again.
How can you make a difference?
How can each of us help combat this food waste crisis and reduce our individual environmental impact? Here are a few simple steps you can start taking today:
Find out if there is a local food waste collection service in your area and sign up for it or set up compost in your garden. If you live in an apartment, you may want to try a worm bin instead.
Plan your meals in advance and only buy what you need from the store.
Avoid buying multiple foods with a short shelf life just because they’re on sale.
Don’t go shopping hungry. You’ll likely buy more food than you can eat and end up throwing some of it away.
