Friends For Change

There is a sense of accomplishment when I look down at my empty plate at the end of dinner. I feel like a child who was forced to eat everything on her plate, but can now rewarded with dessert. Completely reducing my food waste has been a challenge this week, but the largest motivator has been social pressures. Every day at lunch and dinner my friends are determined to make sure my plate is spot clear, and if it is not they will give me a hard time. So for me, it is easier to reduce my waste when I am being constantly reminded and trying not to fail publicly. One day, I did not have time to go to the dining hall and just grabbed a salad from Lower. I eat most of the salad but then, without giving it a second thought, I through the leftovers away. This is when I realized, even though my friends can become repetitive and obnoxious, they are helping me complete my long term goal.

Food waste is a very important environmental issue and decreasing the amount of food in the landfill will have a major environmental impact. According to the EPA, “In 2011 alone, more than 36 million tons of food waste was generated, with only four percent diverted from landfills and incinerators for composting.” This amount of food waste could be prevented and there are many environmental incentives to do so. For example, reducing the amount of food going to the landfill would also decrease the amount of methane, which is more environmentally damaging than carbon dioxide,  being produced from rotting foods. Producing and growing food also uses resources and if the majority of our food is being wasted, the resources are also going to waste. Greenhouse gases are created by the “growing, manufacturing, transporting, and disposing of food” and “by reducing the amount of food wasted, we can reduce greenhouse gas emissions” (EPA). This is one important step to the protection of our environment.

Not only are there environmental impacts to reducing food waste but there are also economic and social benefits. Individuals and businesses would save money by only purchasing the amount of food they would completely consume and would also save money on trash disposal (EPA). What if all our food waste could go to a good cause? There are millions of people around the world who do not have access to enough food. Allocating our left over foods to people who are in need would decrease the amount of food in the landfill and would also create a positive social benefit.

http://www.epa.gov/foodrecovery/