Wasting Food

Team members: Kentrell Conner-Perkins,

Sajda Moore-Vinson,

Grant Parker, Rhys Zeigler

Mentor: Amanda Fort

FOOD WASTE PSA.mp4

A Public Service Announcement from Our Team

What is food waste?

Food waste happens when people either throw out food or let it spoil for whatever reason. The United States throws out almost 40 million tons of food every year. That is more than any other nation in the world. It comes out to be 30-40% of America’s food supply. North America and Australia/New Zealand are the biggest food wasters, along with Europe/Russia, and East Asia. In these countries, more is wasted at the consumer level. In the United States, $1.2 billion in food is wasted in schools each year. We need to teach kids how to save food at school so they will save food at home and beyond.

What food is wasted, and where does the food go after being thrown away?

Did you know that Ohio wastes almost half the food they make? I will tell you what food is wasted, and where the food goes when thrown away. Mostly fruits and vegetables are thrown away. Organic food can be composted, for example fruits and vegetables. Many bakeries waste mostly bread that couldn’t be sold in a day. They usually consist of dough, flour, sugar and other stuff you can eat like icing. Next is that most trash ends up getting recycled, thrown in landfills, or it gets incinerated (or for short gets burned). If you want to donate food, the rules of food donation in Ohio is that it has to be able to fit in someone else's mouth to be eaten. Majority of the food that is wasted is organic food or pastries and bread and if it gets wasted, composted, recycled, thrown in landfills or incinerated it can cause a lot of problems which is why we need to donate whenever we can!

What are the causes and effects of wasting food?

Why do you think people waste food? There are many reasons. People do not make a meal plan, so they buy too much food. Sometimes schedules change, so people don’t use the food on time. Also, people might still cook the food if it’s been left out, but it doesn’t taste as good, so they throw it away. People waste food because they make too much food. When you buy food and don’t make it or eat it, it will get old and it will go bad or get thrown away. When you leave leftovers, you are wasting money if you don’t eat the food. In our interview with Mr. Jacobs, the Shaker Heights Food Service Director, told us that when you waste food, it’s like wasting money. This is because food is bought with money. Would you throw away money?

When too much food is produced in restaurants, hotels and other food services, they cause the biggest amount of food waste. Some restaurants think making large amounts of food saves money, but in reality it wastes a lot of food. It is better to make food in small amounts.

Food waste causes a lot of problems. When you waste food, you are wasting water, too. This is because 70% of the world’s freshwater is used to grow the plants and animals we eat as food. When we throw food away, we waste the plants, animals and water used to grow them.

Also, methane gas is released when you waste food. This is a problem because it causes climate change by trapping heat in our environment. If you want to stop creating methane, stop wasting food. Food waste wastes land, too. Land is used for growing plants and animals for food. It’s also used for landfills. It doesn’t make sense that a lot of land is used to grow animals to give us milk and meat. But most food waste comes from meat. When we throw away fruits and vegetables, that also wastes the land, because the land was used to grow them. Then, it fills up the landfills. This is a problem because the more farmers use the land, the less good the soil is for growing things. We need to stop wasting food.

How can we solve the problem of food waste?

It is important to talk about wasting food. We need food to survive. We cannot live without food so use food wisely because if you don’t we have a massive problem on our hands. We have to plant vegetables and fruit. We have to keep the animals safe for meat and we have to keep the cows safe for milk. Another problem is people because there are lots of people who can’t feed themselves and their children. If you don’t like your food you can save it, donate it, or at least give it to people who like or need it. Please save food or soon we won't have food. Food waste can affect people. It can do anything to people and animals. In central Ohio, about 15% of material entering the landfill is food. That means that landfills have food people can use. We have to do something about this. There is a way to help people by planting seeds, or donating food you don’t want to people who will want it. I hope you can do something to help prevent food waste.

Thank you to our primary source experts!

Mr. Noel T. Rivera,

Advocacy & Education Analyst

Mark Jacobs, Shaker Schools Food Service Director

Interview highlights

The Food Bank started because grocery stores needed a place to share food rather than throwing it away
Some food might be close to the expiration date, but it’s still good, so the grocery stores donate it.
Large refrigerators as big as two football fields automatically adjust the temperature to keep fruits and vegetables fresh longer
They get the food to the community as soon as possible to avoid food waste; it goes to food pantries in communities around the Cleveland area

Interview highlights

He and the supervisors watch food waste trends; supervisors do a good job of managing food waste logs to see how much food waste there is and what food is being wasted to understand what’s happening so we can solve the problem
At the Middle School, they have a period in between lunch periods so they see how much food to prepare for the lunch periods and less food goes to waste
We need to act like it's our money when we think about food; if you throw away food, you are throwing away money

Click here to donate or find out other ways you can help The Greater Cleveland Food Bank.

Resources

https://greenumbrella.org/resources/Documents/State%20of%20Food%20Waste%20-%20FINAL.pdf

https://toogoodtogo.org/en/movement/knowledge/what-food-is-wasted

https://dontwastemy.energy/2020/01/18/foodwaste-at-weddings/

https://www.webmd.com/lung/news/20200901/newlyweds-donate-serve-wedding-food-to-shelter

http://www.usforacle.com/2019/10/22/panera-breads-bakery-items-dont-go-to-waste/

https://www.feedipedia.org/node/70

https://www.cityofmobile.org/residents/trash-and-garbage/trash-collection-rules/

https://www.shakeronline.com/209/Trash-Recycling

https://www.dec.ny.gov/chemical/114499.html

https://policyfinder.refed.com/ohio/