The Environmental Impact of Food Waste

by: Cabri Gordon, Michaela O'Larry, Blakeley Bartee, Jorden Allen

The holiday season is here, along with the traditional holiday feasts - bringing along possible issues of food waste. 

The United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) found that 30,630 tons of food were land-filled in 2017, and the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization estimates that around one third of food meant for human consumption is wasted or lost.

For people living in the United States, these numbers mean the average person wastes about a pound of food per day, according to a 2018 peer-reviewed study.

Food waste contributes to problems in the environment, according to the organization Move for Hunger.

“Food waste that ends up in landfills produces a large amount of methane... that absorb infrared radiation and heat up the earth’s atmosphere, causing global warming and climate change," the Move for Hunger states on their website.

Gabrielle Beasley, Georgia Southern University student, said her family typically gathers for big meals during Thanksgiving and Christmas.

“I always notice that we tend to throw away a lot of food in the process, but of course we don’t think about where this goes or how this impacts our ecosystem. No one does," Beasley said.

However, GS student Victoria Adams does not believe her family contributes to food waste during the holidays, despite preparing plenty of food.

"Eventually, we eat it all. But yeah, it takes a few days, but we rarely throw away Thanksgiving food," Adams said.

Kaitlin Gruner, sustainability graduate assistant, states though, "it [food] doesn't degrade naturally because it's not exposed to elements that is needed to degrade."

Worldwide, food waste amounts to 1.3 billion tons annually, or enough to feed 3 billion people, according to Stop Wasting Food.

Taking into consideration of those in need, the 3 billion individuals who are suffering from a lack of nutrients could reduce the overall amount of food being wasted. The more food that is given out and consumed, the less methane is produced.

Caroline Tallman, senior nutrition student at GS, said some ways to prevent food waste this holiday season are composting leftover food and seeing if local food shelters will allow for leftovers to be served.

The EPA also suggests safely storing leftovers to keep them safe to eat longer, as well as simply planning ahead before holiday meals to avoid preparing too much food.

Tallman said, “We have to be more proactive of food waste because not only it's an environmental problem, it’s a human problem, which should be easy to reduce if only effective policies were implemented."