Over a period of a few decades, humans have changed food from a scarce resource into a mass production cycle around the world. During the 1800s you’d have to grow your own crops, and clean them they would live off this food for the day, weeks. Now, with farmers, our lives have become much more efficient. Though it may seem like an improvement, in this case, efficient doesn’t necessarily mean economically or environmentally practical. Recent studies have shown in 2015, the U.S spends $218 billion a year growing, processing, transferring and disposing of food that is never eaten. We waste about 1.3 billion tons of food every year, either it gets rejected because it’s not “presentable” or tossed into the trash. That 1.3 billion tons of food could have been donated, could’ve been recycled, it could’ve been composted, and probably most of it could’ve been eaten. Instead, it has led to furthering the progression of food waste, which will only lead to global warming and future problems. Oakton has implemented solar panels and the non-selling of plastic bottles which have become a great addition. To add on to these Oakton should implement recycling, and composting to foods that are expired.
Food waste is a growing problem in today’s society for many reasons, one of those reasons are that we don’t look at food like we did in the past. In the past, food was of a much greater value. Now, with the rapid increase of surplus food, we have managed to lessen this value. Globalization has a very big factor in food waste today Guglielmo Bonaccorsi, a researcher of Health Services in Italy, and writer of the journal “Food And Human Behaviour: Consumption, Waste And Sustainability” looks over the problem of food waste. Guglielmo explains “the phenomenon of food waste, long considering a sort of inevitable by-product in our society of abundance” (133). He believes that our diet is only the terminal phase that in the long complex process of production, distribution, and consumption of foods. He expresses that we as people are currently so connected with the phenomenon of globalization of goods, commodities, markets, transport systems, and people. That we as people don’t see food with the same care and importance that we had before. He continues with expressing the importance of globalization as he states, “We could say that globalization has generated, in today’s society, that all people (or, at least, all the persons who have physical, economic and social access to food) eat anything, and anything they eat is the same anywhere” (133). He emphasizes the impact of the food we eat to live a healthy life for the present and future generation. That we need a sustainable diet with the optimization of natural and human resources to survive.
Before we can fix this we must fix the major issue which is food waste coming from grocery stores, because of the mass purchases of fruits, and vegetables there will always be food that will be wasted. A journal article written by Verena Gruber, “What A Waste! Exploring The Human Reality Of Food Waste From The Store Manager’s Perspective.” interviews store managers and their perspective of food waste in their stores. Gruber sheds light on the issues of food waste, and how common the occurrence is in stores. She explains that wholesalers and retailers exert major influences on the amount of food waste generated. “Due to a high concentration in grocery distribution markets in which these organizations has developed significant buying power. Food distributors decide which food products, and what quantity and quality, are offered and promoted to consumers”(3). Since only the food distributors decide which food products are shown, and promoted to the consumers, we as consumers expect everything to be perfect from advertisements, and grocery stores, because of that food waste will always be a problem.
A scholastic scope written by Kristin Lewis begins by showing the reality of dumpster behind many schools, “A tuna sandwich with just one bite taken out of it. A half-eaten burrito. Heaps of crispy lettuce, glistening with ranch dressing. Bright baby carrots sprinkled around like orange confetti. And not one but six shiny red apples”(13). Lewis expresses that this is only one school, just imagine that one dumpster multiplied hundreds of thousands of times across the country. She sheds light on people in the 1800s, people saved everything and used everything. She states, “Not so long ago, throwing away your half-eaten sandwich would have been as unthinkable as throwing away your phone. Until the late 1800s, most Americans ate food that they grew or raised themselves”(13). Lewis informs us that food nowadays is becoming easier to get and that we aren’t the people growing the crops anymore. Instead, we are just the consumers, we have no sentimental feelings towards any of the foods. She expresses that in our world today our expectations of foods should be flawless, “For most of us, our relationship with the food we eat begins at the grocery store. There, we expect to find the shelves fully stocked with fresh, beautiful food when we visit. In fact, we want our fruits and veggies to be as flawless-looking as celebrities on the red carpet”(15). This problem of food waste is only here because of us, and us alone it’s time we make a chance to fix it before it becomes too late for future generations.
As rational, critical-thinking individuals, there is sometimes something very irrational about our decisions. Our unconscious minds are filled with primal needs and desires that we obviously can’t ignore. Over time, we’ve managed to impact our environment essentially causing global warming to begin its course. This is hardly a new phenomenon that we witness; global warming has proven to be a growing problem. Global warming is affected by greenhouse gasses, they come from everyday activities, such as using electricity, heating homes, and driving. Greenhouse gasses are gasses that absorb CO2 and other chemicals and release them into the atmosphere and they don’t stay in one place. As air current shifts, greenhouse gasses become mixed globally, which means that the gasses are evenly spread worldwide. Even though some countries produce more greenhouse gasses than others, emissions from all country contribute to the problem. A major contributor to global warming is food waste. Worldwide, 1.3 billion tons of food per year is wasted, this builds up to one-third of the world’s food, and it is enough to feed 2 billion people. But, instead, we are throwing away quality foods, 795 million people are going hungry around the world. Around 795 million people in the world go to bed hungry, and yet millions of tons of food end up in trash cans, and landfills or spoiled on the way to market.
The world’s past, present and future eating habits play a fundamental role in the progression of global warming. Evidently, Animal agriculture is the leading cause of global warming. Ultimately, shifting from animals to vegetable food products will be most effective for almost all environmental impacts because essentially cutting meat out of one’s diet or drastically reducing it does a lot more for climate change that a lifetime of like green bulbs or electric cars. The average American is eating 83 grams of protein a day, well above the daily recommended amount of 51 grams. Changing diets and cutting food waste in the world’s richest countries will be necessary as climate change affects food production worldwide. Even small changes could become a factor like switching to white meat makes a difference because livestock like cows, goats, and sheep are responsible for many of our greenhouse gas emissions, as well as methane gases that the cows, goats, and sheep we could prevent most of it by reducing the consumption of red meats. Livestock also wastes our resources as in land for farming, food, and clean water we also pollute that air with exhaust from transporting livestock to grocery stores, or factories. Researcher believes even reducing beef consumption alone could be a major part of keeping global temperatures from rising more.
There’s a certain psychology behind the management of food waste and this comes directly from us and the way we perceive our food intake. In order to minimize food waste and dedicate time and attention to its preservation, we need a fundamental understanding of ways to dispose of, recycle or process our food in the most effective ways. an article by Nora Goldstein, “Roadmap To Food Waste Reduction In The U.S.” has a very promising solution for the world to follow, A small business in Phoenix, Arizona is implementing, and enforcing composting to their neighborhoods, it is called ReFED their goals is to educate food businesses and cities on the benefits of adopting food waste solutions, as well as demonstrating the massive social and environmental benefits of food waste solution. Their process begins with a “modest monthly fee” In return, Recycled City provides a lidded bin in which customers collect their food waste. The bins are collected and replaced every 2 weeks or more depending on customer’s chosen plan. Recycled City’s collection routes extend for miles. For every 70 pounds of waste a customer recycles to Recycled City, the customers are entitled to 1 cubic foot of finished compost for their own growing of crops. Recycled City currently has around 550 customers and 50 commercial accounts, collecting about 60 tons of food waste every month from homes and business in the Phoenix metro valley with only 4 employees. The community around Phoenix seems to be getting involved and pushing the reduction of food waste in the article it states that, “The chef at House of Tricks in Tempe incorporates Recycled City’s produce into a special dish every week – plus, recycling its food waste has allowed the restaurant to cancel one of its large dumpsters”(56). ReFED is expanding Phoenix’s plan on reducing food waste. Currently, the city of Phoenix collects 15 percent of residential trash made up of food waste. Using a composting system they expect to expand it citywide “One day soon, we hope to implement this program city-wide. To make that a reality, the city is building a massive composting facility at one of our transfer stations”(30). The city of Phoenix decided to become a leader in sustainability and reduce food waste. In the article Goldstein mentions a comment from a worker that states, “As a city, we feel it is our obligation to lead the way in setting the right example. What is great about this endeavor is that it is very attainable if everyone does their small part. If at the end of each meal people think about what’s left on their plate, and dispose of it properly, then we will be successful”(30). Seeing how fast people will change to a system that a small neighborhood in Phoenix implemented imagine how fast it will grow when it expands.
In order to tackle this problem, France has developed a solution to reduce food waste. France has created a system that has proven to be successful in grocery stores to reduce the amount of food thrown away. “Trashing Food Waste” written by Earth Island Journal shows in-depth how grocery stores in France are implementing recycling into their business grocery stores. France has started a law banning tossing out unsold foods, becoming the first country in the world to do so. The French created a landmark law that mandates that good quality foods approaching it’s “best-by” date be donated to charities and food banks. The French also created a law that prohibits destroying foods, as previous food markets have thrown foods in trash bins, and discarded them with bleach. Which will prevent any food to be thrown away, and wasted. This solution can start very easily following France’s footsteps. From experience of working at a grocery store, our grocery store “Fresh Farms” has implemented a great system to prevent further food waste. When the fruits, and vegetables at our store are bruised, or old the workers there will take them to the back and repackage those fruits, and vegetables for a reduced price. With this idea, it gives customers a cheaper opinion to fruits and vegetables that also helps the store because we are gaining a profit from foods that usually are thrown away.
Oakton can implement composting into their process, composting helps soils hold or sequester carbon dioxide, with Oakton having a lunchroom that provides food such as fruits, and vegetables they are able to decompose the leftover food into organic matter which can be used for soils, and the plants around the campus of Oakton. A hotel in Stowe, Vermont opened in June 2008 with a food waste composting program that seems like a very good example to follow if Oakton were to compost. The hotel, which is part of the Stowe Mountain Resort, collected food waste in the kitchens, as well as the employee dining room. Andre Blais, the Landscape Manager, states, “our hotel already has an 85 percent diversion rate, composting pre and post consumer food scrap, biodegradable straws, paper towels, etc”(14). The Lodge is planning to purchase compost from sanctuary farms next year. Seeing how successful this worked at a hotel, I wanna see this be done at Oakton, and in the future to other colleges.