Food waste is a global environmental issue that must be addressed immediately - in this blog we'll take a look at the reasons why the issue of food waste needs to be solved today.
I was shocked reading on this website about the huge impact food waste actually has and the stats that aren't spoken about enough.
The website states some ways in which we can be more mindful about food waste and I aim to show that in my concept.
“Organising your meals ahead of time so that you understand exactly what you'll consume from the shop and don't waste money on items that won't be consumed.
Consider cooking larger quantities of food in bulk and storing any leftovers for later.
Set up a compost heap in your garden.
Regularly cleaning out your fridge, keeping track of all expiration dates.”
The fact that so much food is wasted makes a lot of sense when you take into consideration the way produce is sold at chain supermarkets. All packaged in large bulks and numbers making it difficult for small families or even people living alone to be mindful of how much food they are wasting. Buying an entire pack of something when only one or two are required is inevitably going to produce waste. Single serve fruit and vegetables are becoming more rare and limited down to only broccoli, potatoes, onions etc. Things like spices are better served loose without packaging as no one ever needs/uses more than what is required for a recipe, unless they are an experienced chef.
As much as supermarkets are trying to reduce single use plastic by replacing the packaging with paper, it still doesn't factor in the food that is still going off due to pack sizes being too big. Supermarkets have also recently brought in a new policy that they're leaving the dates off of packing now to “reduce waste” but really it just means that quality isn't guaranteed and you never know what is going to last in the fridge and what isn't. If you buy a food shop and purchase a selection of produce meant for a few days time and when you reached for it you found it had gone past its obvious best before date - it still becomes waste. It only reduces waste for the company itself and cuts costs on what the company has to account for when sell by dates occur or when produce can't be sold any more.
www.materialsrecovery.co.uk. (2022). Food Waste in 2022. [online] Available at: https://www.materialsrecovery.co.uk/blog/food-waste-in-2022 [Accessed 7 Dec. 2022].