How Food Waste Affects Our Environment

How does food waste affect our environment? Many people can agree that food waste has a negative impact on the environment, but the reasons why aren't often included. Food waste is the limited or uncertain access to nutritious food. Food waste negatively impacts the environment by increasing global warming in landfills, food insecurity, and businesses lose money.

Greenhouse Gasses Cause Global Warming

Global warming is the increase in greenhouse gasses trapped into the atmosphere that creates a warmer environment which causes Earth to be globally warmer in temperature. A way food waste increases climate change is when they are put into landfills. When food or food scraps are put into landfills, they produce methane gas, which traps 20 percent more heat in the atmosphere than carbon dioxide. For instance, “Increased concentrations of methane into the atmosphere contribute to the greenhouse effect, whereby greenhouse gasses absorb infrared radiation and reradiate it back to Earth’s surface… trapping heat and producing substantial changes in climate” (Britannica 2023). Humans already release enough methane into the atmosphere that have caused climate change, but with food waste, global warming has been increasing with the extra methane produced.

The greenhouse effect is when the sun’s heat is trapped in the planet’s low atmosphere, causing a warmer environment. Global warming contributes to food waste because when food is discarded instead of composted, the food releases methane when it is placed into landfills. In the text, “Landfill sites are potential sources of hazardous emissions of degradation and transformation processes of waste-organic matter” (Bäumler 1). When organic matter is put into landfills, the organic matter releases the harmful chemicals such as methane into the atmosphere. The accumulation of methane, and the common greenhouse gas, carbon dioxide, will continue to increase the rising temperatures of the Earth’s atmosphere if organic matter continues to be placed in landfills. Food waste contributes to global warming due to the strong greenhouse gas that organic matter puts out into the atmosphere.

Cutting Back on Food Waste Can Help in Many Ways

Not only does food waste affect the environment, it also causes businesses and families to lose large amounts of money in the waste of their mass production. Large amounts of food waste comes along with large amounts of money wasted. For instance, “The average four-person family wastes $1,500 a year on food. Food waste in manufacturing and packaging costs corporations $2 billion each year - plus $15 billion for farmers” (University Wire 2018). Since only a four-person family wastes $1,500, families who contain more than only four people were to waste above average, though the average wasted is already a lot of money.

Businesses lose money when their products go to waste. And along with business, farmers lose a lot of money and waste their hard work growing organic matter. As an example, “ Each year, 119 billion pounds of food is wasted in the United States. That equates to 130 billion meals and more than $408 billion in food thrown away each year. Shockingly, nearly 40% of all food in America is wasted” (Feeding America 2). WIth 40% of food being discarded, it also wastes $408 billion in food. With less food wasted, companies and families would save more money that could be used instead of wasting it on discarded food.

Cutting Food Waste Can Make a Difference

In short, food waste does impact our environment in multiple ways, and it impacts it negatively too. When food is wasted, it increases the speed of climate change with the methane produced in landfills. Food waste leads to food insecurity where people struggle to find food availability, and waste money along with the food wasted, where industries and families lose thousands and thousands of dollars in the United States. Knowing the causes and effects of these problems assists in making a change to prevent the negative results.

Ariana Figueroa, 9th grade student, Terra Linda High School, San Rafael, CA

Works Cited
Bäumler, Rupert, and Ingrid Kögel-Knabner. "Spectroscopic and Wet Chemical Characterization of Solid Waste Organic Matter of Different Age in Landfill Sites, Southern Germany." Journal of environmental quality, vol. 37, no. 1, 2008, pp. 146-53. ProQuest; eLibrary, https://explore.proquest.com/elibrary/document/197381071?accountid=194106.

Feeding America. “Food Waste in America | Feeding America.” Www.feedingamerica.org, www.feedingamerica.org/our-work/reduce-food-waste#:~:text=Each%20year%2C%20119%20billion%20pounds.

"Global food security." Britannica School, Encyclopædia Britannica, 13 Sep. 2023. school.eb.com/levels/high/article/global-food-security/639022. Accessed 16 Oct. 2023.

"How one state is fighting food waste." University Wire, 09/18 2018. ProQuest; eLibrary, https://explore.proquest.com/elibrary/document/2108287777?accountid=194463.

"Methane." Britannica School, Encyclopædia Britannica, 3 Jan. 2023. school.eb.com/levels/high/article/methane/52328. Accessed 16 Oct. 2023.