Food Waste Should Be Used Towards Helping Others In Need
Food waste is a huge problem all over the country:
Food waste in restaurants is an enormous problem not only in Los Angeles, but all around the United States. The amount of food waste in restaurants has escalated over the years to, in recent years, approximately 85% of food that isn’t used in a restaurant is thrown out in the U.S. Restaurants waste about 75,000 pounds of food waste a year. Including all restaurants, we as a country waste 133 billion pounds of food.
Food waste in restaurants is an enormous problem not only in Los Angeles, but all around the United States. The amount of food waste in restaurants has escalated over the years to, in recent years, approximately 85% of food that isn’t used in a restaurant is thrown out in the U.S. Restaurants waste about 75,000 pounds of food waste a year. Including all restaurants, we as a country waste 133 billion pounds of food.
Why food insecurity is a huge problem in the United States and we should use food waste to help people experiencing food insecurity:
In the United States, ⅓ of the food wasted in restaurants is still edible, and could be used to feed the 40 million homeless and/or hungry people in our country. About 12.3% of American houses were food insecure at different times during 2016, according to USDA. 1 in 6 people are food insecure. All of these statistics show that a lot of people in the U.S. go hungry. So many people in America are food insecure and instead of throwing extra, perfectly good food into a bunch of landfills, we should use our enormous amount of food waste to help these millions of hungry people. |
Compost:
Compost is decayed, or decomposed, organic matter. Organic matter is anything that is or was a type of plant. Fungi decompose organic matter by releasing enzymes to break down the decaying material, and then absorb the nutrients in the dead organisms. Bacteria can decompose, too, but they can only grow and receive nutrients from the surface of the decaying matter, while fungi can reach much deeper. After the organic matter is fully decomposed and broken down, it is now very nutrient-rich dirt, or compost. Any plants or animals can be broken down and turned into compost. One majorly effective way to use food waste is to compost it and grow more food out of it. |
Putting food waste, compost, and food insecurity together:
If restaurants or businesses take their food waste, compost it, grow fruits and vegetables, and then give it to people who are food insecure, you can solve both problems. Composting the food waste when it would most likely end up in a landfill puts perfectly good food to a better use, and it decreases the amount of carbon emissions from the landfill. Using the compost to grow fresh fruits and vegetables, and then giving those fruits and vegetables to people in need of fresh food will also help solve hunger in the U.S. That’s three problems solved! |