- Americans waste about 40% of the food produced each year, costing the average family $1,350-$2,275 annually and making food waste the largest component of landfills. Efforts to curb food waste through composting, food recovery programs, and sustainability initiatives could extend the lifespan of landfills by decades. - Korea implemented a strategy to charge residents and businesses for discarded food to reduce landfill waste and curb wasteful behaviors. Smart bins that weigh trash and track disposal fees through RFID technology aim to reduce Korean food waste by 20% in coming years. - Date labels like "use by" and "best by" are often misinterpreted, leading consumers to discard food premature

1. Beau Becker
Curbing Food Waste
Beau Becker
Hosp & Tsm Marketing & Sales-FA12-002-2861
Trends Paper
11/16/2012
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2. Beau Becker
Section 1
Billions and Billions of food is wasted each year annually. Loss and wastage occurs on
all steps in the food supply chain. In low-income countries, most loss occurs during production,
while in developed countries much food is wasted at the consumption stage. “In the United
States today, about 40 percent of all food goes uneaten. Each year Americans are throwing away
the equivalent of $165 billion in uneaten food, making food the single largest component of solid
waste in our landfills. This costs the average family of four between $1,350 and $2,275
annually.”
Much of our food supplies end up in landfills and at the same time it can be seen in many
other developed countries. This time and stage more and more people are buying more and more
food, leaving the untouched, unfinished, neglected, or wasted. Everyone wastes food, but for
each individual it is a matter of volume and frequency. For every discarded milk carton and past
date leftovers that may hide in the back of the fridge, there is a loaf of bread absent mindedly left
in the trunk of a car, or a few pounds of chicken fallen a few light shades of pink and turned out
to the garbage in a flash. Virtually every family and every individual in the United States
discards a fair percentage of their food; whether it has spoiled, or is just too much to consume.
Many people don‟t know but this is a pathway towards an overwhelming consumption problem.
According to the U.S. Department of Agriculture‟s Food Loss Project, “Americans are
inclined to discard more than 40 %( of all the food produced domestically (some estimates are
significantly higher).”Consumption doesn‟t stop at the garbage bin. The tragedy is once all of
this decomposing food hits the landfill whether it is contained in plastic or not, it continues
breaking down and creating large amounts of methane gas, which can be bad.However, while we
may never become a zero-waste society, recent progresses have gone on to help to curb the food
waste problem. For example community composting, dumpster diving, food recovery
organizations, ignoring expiration dates, food technology, and sustainability programs have been
in place, and will hopefully continue to make an impact on that large amount of food wasted. If
motivated enough to cut our food waste in half we would likely extend the lifespan of landfills
by decades and reduce soil depletion and the application of untold tons of fertilizers, pesticides
and herbicides, but this requires cleaning our plate in a radically different way.
In addition to the issue of methane gas, wasted food represents a real loss of precious
resources. In particular, the large amounts of oil and water used to create our food go for nothing
when we waste as much as we do. Two percent of all US energy consumption goes to producing
the food that we subsequently discard. “Food waste represents a $240 billion annual loss on a
national level. So trimming your household waste can amount to saving more and more for the
average person or family.”It‟s shameful to waste nearly half of our food when more Americans
than ever before are food insecure. It‟s all the more disgraceful considering that we throw out
enough food to feed all of the world‟s hungry.
The problem starts long before food reaches the plate. “At the retail level, grocery stores
and other food sellers lose up to $15 billion annually in unsold fruit and vegetables alone.
Restaurants and household kitchens are also contributors.” Huge portion sizes and people
avoiding the use of leftovers also contribute to a problem that has worsened throughout the years.
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Research shows that rotting food, contributes to global emissions that contribute to climate
change. “The Natural Resources Defense Council recommends that the U.S. government conduct
a thorough study of food system losses and set national goals for waste reduction, suggesting that
businesses should streamline their operations to reduce food losses.” So consumers should gain
more knowledge on how to shop better. Many Countries are adopting a resolution to reduce food
waste by 50 percent by 2020. Europe designated to have one by 2014 as the “European year
against food waste.”So we should start cleaning our plates or putting less food on it. The
demands placed on our food shelves are heavy as families struggle in a tough economic
environment. Yes, this is an issue that's rich with irony. While telling people that they should
clean their plates and not waste food, we're also a nation that puts too much food on those plates
in the first place. We struggle to educate people about the health dangers associated with eating
too many calories, yet a growing percentage of our population faces a daily battle with hunger.
Food is lost all over the place for example, during processing and distribution, in retail
stores and restaurants, our homes, and on the farms. There are many reasons this is happening.
For Farms, crops can be left on the field to long, because the price is too low at the time of
harvest to make up for the costs of labor to harvest. Inventory gets left over at distribution
centers all of the time which causes problems for many. Stores often purchase to much produce
in the hopes that having more will create an illusion for their customers to buy more. With all of
the huge portions out there that aren‟t the normal serving sizes the government recommends and
restaurants having extreme amount of items on their menu much of the food there having is
going to waste.Then there are consumers. You and me, tossing away half are food simply
because we don‟t feel like carrying it home. We all have a role to play and that‟s curbing are
food waste.
Section 2
The Korean government decided In order to keep streets clean and landfills less crowded
to come up with a new strategy to charge both residents and businesses for the food they discard.
This measure is perfect because it will prevent people from throwing away perfectly edible
products. With most of the food supplies ending up in landfills all around the United Statesthe
same situation can be spotted in most of the developed countries. Surprisingly, the percentage is
much similarto the one displayed by Korea. This kind of behavior is very irresponsible. People
are shopping way too much, just don‟t care, and waste allot at all you can eatplaces promoted by
restaurants.The smart high-tech food waste bins designed by “SK Telecom” are expected to
provide a solution to help people with waste. They weight the amount of trash with maximum
precision, letting residents know how wasteful they really are. “Due to innovative radio
frequency identification (RFID) technology, the bins, equipped with card readers, can also
establish the value of the disposal fee, paid by Koreans using a credit card or their public
transportation card. After installing the RFID bins, authorities hope to reduce food waste by up
to 20% over the next years.” The things people eat today appear to be hard to handle. So the
government is forced to make some changes. According to a disturbing prediction,” 50 million
Koreans will generate 170,000 tons of trash, by not eating everything they have purchased during
a single day. So far, trash has been properly processed by sewage plants, but this path will no
longer be exploited in the near future. Since landfill space appears to be insufficient, new green
technologies are expected to solve the problem by 2013.”
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4. Beau Becker
“Use by” and “best by” dates, commonly found on both nonperishable and perishable
products, are manufacturer suggestions for peak quality. They do not indicate food safety, as is
commonly believed, nor are they regulated. The exception to this is milk, for which “use by”
datesare federally regulated, and some other specific products in certain states. This is generally
not how consumers interpret these dates. Many people believe they indicate a product‟s safety
and discard food as soon as it reaches its expiration date. “Research on date labeling in the U.K.
by the Waste & Resources Action Programme (WRAP) shows that 45 to 49 percent of
consumers misunderstands the meaning of date labels, resulting in an enormous amount of
prematurely discarded food. In fact, WRAP estimates that up to 20 percent of household food
waste is linked to date labeling confusion. This led the U.K. government to recently revise its
guidance on date labeling such that now 1) “sell by” and “display until” labels should be
removed to avoid confusion for shoppers, with different ways of tracking stock control explored
by retailers; 2) “Best before” dates relate to food quality, including taste, texture, and
appearance, but do not indicate that eating product past that date will be harmful; 3) “use by”
dates relate to food safety; and 4) food may not be sold after the “use by” date, but retailers can,
with theexception of eggs, sell products after the “best before” date, provided they are safe to
eat.”
“New York City residents waste approximately 270,000 pounds of food daily. That
seems unfathomable when so many people in the world go hungry. That‟s where City Harvest
food bank steps in.This year, City Harvest food bank will deliver about 25 million pounds of
food to community food programs such as soup kitchens, food pantries, homeless shelters and
senior centers around the city. The food, which is collected from restaurants, cafeterias, grocery
stores, hotels, farms and distributors is also collected through donations.More than one million
New Yorkers rely on emergency food at some point in the year, and with the help of programs
like this, we can take perfectly good food from the waste steam and divert it to where it is needed
most!
For more than 30 years, City Harvest has and still is serving New York City as one of the
first and only food rescue organizations. Founded in 1982, City Harvest has been there helping
out the people in need with their wonderful volunteers in the neighborhood trying to make a
difference. City Harvest is New York City community‟s Answer to hunger. They link the food
industry and countless organizations, foundations, corporations, and private citizens together to
help feed our hungry neighbors. “More than 1.6 million New Yorkers currently live in poverty.
City Harvest regularly delivers food to some 600 emergency food programs in New York City,
helping feed the more than one million people that face hunger each year in our community.”
City Harvest works to end hunger across all areas of New York and they‟re not stopping
there. They are doing this by rescuing and distributing excess food, educating lower-income
people to encourage self-sufficiency, and forging innovative partnerships within communities to
bring thousands of hungry their next meal. “This year, City Harvest will rescue over 40 million
pounds of excess food from food establishments throughout the city and across the country. In
addition to collecting food from some of the top restaurants in New York City, our food rescue
efforts have broadened to include donations from wholesalers and distributors, Greenmarkets,
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bakeries and caterers, farmers, hotels, hospitals, corporate cafeterias, and year-round canned food
drives rub by private citizens.”
Section 3
The greatest potential for food waste reduction
Interviewer emphasized the importance of implementing sustainable solutions across the
entire Food Supply Chain to fully realize the potential for food waste reduction. In developing
and emerging economies, this would require market-led large-scale investment in agricultural
infrastructure, technological skills and knowledge, storage, transport and distribution. Such
investments have been shown to stimulate rural economies. In the case of the Koreans charging
for the amount they waste it‟s showing an impact that can help change what‟s going on.
Where international markets and local policies and investment are lacking, large-scale
capital investment in infrastructure in developing countries has often failed. For long-term
sustainability the developing world needs help from locally supported government policies and
investment alongside any market-led private investment with reach through into developed world
markets. Examples of food waste reduction include various cooperative schemes, City Harvest,
Community, technology, and many other Sustainable Organizations.
The greatest potential for reducing the amount of food wasted in the developed world lies
with retailers, food services and consumers. We need to make shifts in the way we value food,
through education, increased awareness of the food supply chain and food waste's impact on the
environment have the potential to reduce waste production. Improved food labeling and better
consumer understanding of labeling and food storage also have food waste reduction potential.
Get involved in ongoing activities in the area, through programs such as City Harvest. With food
price recognized as the most important factor in determining consumer decisions, anecdotal
evidence suggests that the economic crisis has stimulated a shift in consumer attitude to food
waste.
Through Innovative technology throughout the supply chain, in both developed and
developing worlds, particularly in packaging, contributes to improving shelf life for perishable
foods and semi-prepared meals. Continued developments in packaging, utilizing technology and
materials science, have the potential to further increase shelf life.
With the world growing, lack of infrastructure and technical and managerial skills in food
production and post-harvest processing have been identified as key drivers in the creation of food
waste, both now and over the near future. This situation contrasts with that in developed
countries where our interviewees forecast the majority of food waste continuing to be produced
post-consumer, driven by the low price of food relative to disposable income, consumers' high
expectations of food cosmetic standards and the increasing disconnection between consumers
and how food is produced. Similarly, the increasing urbanization within transitioning countries
will potentially disconnect those populations from how food is grown, which is likely to further
increase food waste generation.
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Across the globe, resource and commodity limitations, in part as a result of an increasing
population but also owing to impacts of climate change, were viewed as being likely to increase
the economic value of food, potentially driving more efficient processes that could lead to food
waste reduction. Industrialization will continue to develop in response to these wider challenges
by the development of shared logistics, identification and labeling of products, use of barcodes,
and better demand forecasting, and domestic kitchen technologies (smart fridges, cookers, online
meal planning and recipe resources) may make it easier for consumers to manage their food
better and waste less of it.
Research shows that as the proportion of income spent on food declines, food waste
increases. There is clear evidence of a distribution of waste across different groups, with the
lowest wastage rates in the immediate post-war age generation. “However, it would be a mistake
to assume that the demographic distribution will remain the same in the future, as today's elderly
generally exhibit a „waste not want not‟ mentality, while the elderly of the future are likely to
continue to retain the same attitudes and behaviors to food that they have today.”
There are clearly fundamental factors affecting post-consumer food waste worldwide,
some of which may require solutions that involve direct communication and awareness-raising
among consumers of the importance of reducing food waste. Others require government
interventions and the support and cooperation of the food industry itself, such as improving the
clarity of food date labeling and advice on food storage, or ensuring that an appropriate range of
pack or portion sizes is available that meets the needs of different households.
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Work Cited
"Food Waste Reduction Is So Hot Right Now! ." Wasted Food -- Jonathan Bloom on food waste
and how it can be avoided | a look at how America squanders nearly half of its food. N.p., 20 Feb. 2012.
Web. 15 Nov. 2012. <http://www.wastedfood.com/.../food-waste-reduction-is-so-hot-right-now/>.
Grigoras, Oana. "Koreans Use High-Tech Bins to Curb Food Waste." softpedia. N.p., 6 Jan. 2012.
Web. 15 Nov. 2012. <news.softpedia.com › News › Green › Food & Health>.
Gunders, Dana. " Don’t toss your cookies: Curbing the crisis of food waste | Grist." Grist |
Environmental News, Commentary, Advice. N.p., 22 Aug. 2012. Web. 15 Nov. 2012.
<http://grist.org/food/dont-toss-your-cookies-curbing-the-crisis-of-food-waste/>.
Gunders, Dana (2012). Wasted: How America Is Losing Up to 40 Percent of Its Food from Farm to
Fork to Landfill. Available at: http://www.nrdc.org/food/files/wasted-food-IP.pdf. [Last Accessed
November 15, 2012.
Moon, Lindsey. "Wisconsin Works to Curb Food Waste | WPRNews.org." WPRNews.org. N.p., 24
Aug. 2012. Web. 15 Nov. 2012. <http://news.wpr.org/post/wisconsin-works-curb-food-waste>.
Taylor, Marygrace Taylor. " Curbing Food Waste : KIWI Magazine Online." KIWI Magazine Online.
N.p., n.d. Web. 15 Nov. 2012. <http://www.kiwimagonline.com/2012/01/whats-up-with-food-waste/>.
Trueba, I. & MacMillan, A., How to End Hunger in Times of Crises, UPM Press, 2011
"City Harvest - Rescuing Food for New York's Hungry." City Harvest - Rescuing Food for New
York's Hungry. N.p., n.d. Web. 15 Nov. 2012. <http://www.cityharvest.org/>.
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