There’s no denying that food waste is one of the biggest problems that modern society faces. Close to 700 million people worldwide are undernourished while we waste as much as 1.4 billion tons of food every single year. That 1.4 billion is more than enough to cover all of the needs of the undernourished, yet it ends up in landfills or in the oceans. Furthermore, all of that accumulated food has an extremely devastating effect on our land, air, and water. In fact, food waste is just as dangerous for us as, for example, nuclear or medical waste.

In this article, we go over some of the most prominent ways in which food waste negatively impacts our environment. We will also go over a few methods you can apply to help reduce food waste and tackle this problem.

There’s no denying that food waste is one of the biggest problems that modern society faces. Managing food waste is extremely important for the environment.

How Do We Get Food Waste?

There are several ways in which we can waste food. The most obvious one is also probably the one you’ve engaged in at least once in your life. Namely, when you have food in the fridge or the freezer and it spoils, you throw it away. Furthermore, you might be eating a meal and can’t finish, but can’t store the food either, so you throw it away. You can also create food waste by accident. Think of all the times you dropped a food item onto the ground and had to throw it away because it was covered in dirt or grime. Whatever the case may be, the result is the same — the food will end up in the trash can, and then in a landfill.

However, food can also be wasted before it even reaches your fridge. In fact, it can even be wasted before food brands even begin processing it. For instance, if you own a farm and cultivate crops, pests and various crop diseases can ruin your yield. In addition, a single season of bad weather can result in losing tons and tons of crops. And if there’s a problem with the storage facilities, the raw ingredients from the harvest can go off quickly.

Transporting food can also result in some waste, depending on how the transporting was done. Anything from unfit transport conditions to unpredictable traffic accidents can lead to a company sending an entire shipment to the landfill. And once the food reaches retail, it’s still not safe from becoming waste. In fact, at least 10% of all food waste in the US comes from supermarkets getting rid of their spoiled products.

The Food Waste Impact

Water Waste

Manufacturing and processing food actually requires a lot of water. Consider the following, for example:

If you grow crops, you need to water them constantly
If you manufacture food products, you will need water to wash the machinery involved with the production (or as an active ingredient)
As a farmer, you need water to keep the animals hydrated.

On average, you require at least 50 liters of water to produce a single tomato, and a whopping 125 for just one apple. Meat requires even more than that. And considering how many tomatoes the US produces in a single year, the losses become all the more significant.

Land Impact

A lot of arable land is lost or wasted each year due to food waste. In fact, we lose as much as 1.4 billion hectares of land to this problem. That’s as much as 28% of all available arable land, a territory 200 times as big as the Republic of Ireland. Furthermore, because of the need for more land, a lot of deforestation takes place, which comes with its own host of environmental problems.

The Carbon Footprint

Yes, food waste actually does affect the carbon footprint. On average, this issue produces 3.3 billion tonnes of CO2 equivalent. The machinery and transport vehicles that the food industry uses run on oil, diesel, and other pollutants. Furthermore, the waste itself emits methane and other harmful gasses which additionally degrade the atmosphere and contribute to the greenhouse effect.

The effects that discarded food has on the environment are very real and quite serious. And if we don’t handle them in the coming years, we risk further pollution and all of the problems that come with it.

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Reducing the Food Waste

If the current trends continue, the food waste issue will inevitably get worse. Therefore, it’s important to take some necessary steps to prevent it. And as you will see from the short list below, those steps are not particularly difficult or time-consuming, and anyone from big corporations to individuals can apply them.

Turning Waste Into Food

Leftover products such as restaurant scraps and old bread can be reused in interesting ways. For example, you can turn your leftover lunch into biogas easily, or use coffee cherries to make so-called ‘coffee flour’. Stale bread is also one of the best ingredients out there to make homebrew ale.

Sharing the Surplus

Supermarkets, chain stores, and even small businesses can actually donate surplus food. There are plenty of people out there in need of a good meal, so a discarded food item might just become their lunch or dinner. Furthermore, stores can team up with charities and inform each other regarding the excess food situation. In fact, in some countries, like the UK, you can install an app that informs the charities nearby when a supermarket has some extra food to share.

Changing Consumer Behavior

As a consumer, you can do your part in reducing food waste by simply picking up a few new habits. Here’s a list of things you can do on your end to help tackle the problem:

Buy food from local stores and greengrocers rather than big retail chains
Compost your excess food
Inform yourself on expiration dates and data labeling
Make an eco-friendly meal plan
Buy small quantities and don’t hoard food items.

Waste Management Education

While you work hard on informing yourself on food waste, large corporations and food manufacturers can do their own part on a much larger scale. For example, they can host various food waste-related seminars and events. Those can cover data labeling and food safety past the expiration date. In addition, manufacturers can rely on eco-friendly packaging that helps the product stay fresh longer.

Final Thoughts

Managing waste that comes from excess food is extremely important for the environment. It might not seem like that to the average consumer, especially when you compare it to other types of waste out there, like plastics and consumer electronics. But the effects that discarded food has on the environment are very real and quite serious. And if we don’t handle them in the coming years, we risk further pollution and all of the problems that come with it.

About the Author

Shannon Bergstrom is a LEED Green Associate, TRUE waste advisor. She currently works at RTS, a tech-driven waste and recycling management company, as a sustainability brand manager. Shannon consults with clients across industries on sustainable waste practices.