In America, half of the food produced is wasted. There can be food waste in factories, during transport, and at the grocery store, not just at home. There are millions of starving people, yet we waste 25 percent of the food we buy.
Food waste is also terrible for the environment, because it also squanders resources used to produce the food. Sixteen percent of methane gas emissions from landfills stems from food waste. People around the world need to change their habits. This cannot be sustained by our planet.
As a final project in my science class, we were assigned the “hero for a healthy planet” challenge. We were told to brainstorm environmental issues and find a way we could make a difference.
I chose to try to reduce my food waste. I wanted to try this because I know about the problems caused by food waste. I weighed the food waste from my family’s dinner each night and recorded it. The results varied from no food wasted to over 5 ounces.
I noticed that our main source of food waste was large dairy products. For example, we buy large containers of things like sour cream but they go rotten before we can eat it all. I now know to buy smaller perishable products and I recommend others do, too.
There are so many ways to reduce food waste. Just tracking it helps. I hope that because of our efforts, one day soon our landfills will no longer be filled with food that should have been eaten.
Pearl Shread
Northampton