RESIDENTIAL FOOD WASTE IN AMERICA
By Sami Charafeddine
During the 1980’s world hunger and famine in Africa took center stage around the world.
Millions of people are dying from starvation in the 3rd world countries, whereby
emphasis has been placed by large organizations, NGO's and nations in an attempt to
reduce the food waste across the planet. Food waste occurs at 3 intervals; on the farms
(production), during transportation to wholesalers & retailers, and finally at the end of
the line at restaurants and residential homes (consumption) locally, regionally and
globally. So many resources are wasted as a result of food waste – resources that can
be utilized to help solve other problems.
Food waste impacts a society’s sustainability, whereby the food waste that reaches
landfills releases methane greenhouse gasses that scientists believe worsens the effect
of climate change. Societies also need to ‘operate for the greater good’ and optimize the
use of their scarce resources. It is just not logical to spend resources for food production
that will ultimately end up in landfills (one time out of three).
All the time, energy, resources used to produce these foods all go to waste, instead of
being able to direct them to other aspects of food production that would be utilized. In
order to be sustainable, societies need to optimize the use of their (scarce) resources.
Ultimately it is up to the housewives to manage their households and reduce their food
wastes.
Many factors have led to the food waste problem we have within residential households.
Consumers ‘Eat with their Eyes’. Many consumers get more satisfaction when they see
the whole dining table filled with different plates of food, especially during celebrations
and festive seasons. Americans waste approx. 25% more food during the period
between Thanksgiving and New Year’s Day, with thousands of pounds of leftover
turkey, gravy, green beans, mashed potatoes, and other holiday trimmings end up in
landfills.” (10 Tips to Reduce Food Waste, Save Money and Protect the Environment This Holiday
Season, 2020)
Other reasons that cause food waste within US residential homes is the portion sizes of
the products sold. Manufacturers increase the portion sizes (packaging) to increase
their sales. Millions of customers try to save money with bulk buying only to find that
some of the products are not consumed fully and get thrown out. This sometimes
results in actually having to pay more than had the consumer purchased the smaller
sized product.
Another reason is that consumers are impulse buyers. In the supermarket isles,
consumers could crave for a meal or product, only to find out that their appetites
changed once they cook the meal, or that their children end up leaving more on their
plates than what their mother’s desire.
The ultimate stakeholder who is fully impacted by food waste within their homes is the
families who are travelling to select and purchase their groceries only to find that not all
what they purchase is consumed, thus resulting in lost money spent on buying products
and cooking the meals. We must also include the non-monetary value of the hard work
that mothers put into preparing and cooking meals for their families when discussing the
cost of food waste within the homes.
With the increasing tonnages of food waste reaching landfills, extra dump truck drivers
and landfill workers will be required, thus putting a burden on a local government’s
budget.
Two solutions that have been suggested to help combat the residential food waste
problem are composting food waste scraps to be used in gardening and agriculture, as
well as establishing a food bank to cook and distribute unwanted cooked and un-cooked
food. Both ideas would help to reduce the food waste impact on society as well as
helping to establish new employment for the public, however a lot of logistics, planning
and funding would be required for these two solutions to be successful.
REFERENCES
10 Tips to Reduce Food Waste, Save Money and Protect the Environment this Holiday Season. (2020,
December 17). I Love A Clean San Diego. https://cleansd.org/2020/11/03/10-tips-to-reduce-food-wastethis-holiday-season/