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#1
If you've seen the 2017 eye-opening documentary 'Wasted! The Story of Food Waste', featuring Anthony Bourdain, Osteria Francescana's Massimo Bottura and other celebrated chefs, you know what a terrible tragedy the food industry is. According to current data, there are approximately 1.3 billion perfectly fine foods available to us that simply end up in the bin.
And while it's appropriate to think that it's fine to do with food that you purchased as you please - even swim in 600 lbs of Nutella for that matter; that is enough food to feed 2 billion people - enough to feed starving folks across the globe twice. Or as Richard Swannell from Wrap, The Waste and Resources Action Programme based in the UK, explained to BBC: "[It] would fill 23 million 40-tonne trucks. Bumper-to-bumper, enough to circle the Earth seven times."
#2
It would be okay, however, if food waste would only concern our consciousness. But as it turns out, all that food that doesn't end up in our tummies produces 8-10% of overall global greenhouse gas emissions. You see, when food breaks down at landfill sites, it releases harmful greenhouse gases like methane into the atmosphere, thus increasing extreme weather disasters that's been going on around the planet.
If food waste were a country, it would be the third biggest emitter of greenhouse gases, behind the US and China, according to a United Nations Environment Programme report. Definitely not a place we'd like to visit.
#3
#4
In order to understand the inner workings on food waste, Bored Panda reached out to Luke, or u/Zastrow_Studios, as he's known on Reddit, who was one of the top-voted comments on the thread. "If I'm being honest, at the beginning, it didn't bother me that much," he explained in a message, referencing his experience working in a grocery store's meat department.
#5
#6
2. The ice maker could have mold growing in it and nobody would know. I've never seen a restaurant clean one, ~~except for the rare instances where some dipshit drops a stack of glasses near it and they have to melt the ice to pick out the shards.~~ (actually scratch that, it doesn't mean they clean the maker itself; just the basin)
3. The nozzles for the soda fountain might be moldy and slimy too; some restaurants clean these as part of their side work, some don't. You'll never know.
4. Your server, if female, has almost certainly been sexually harassed by someone on the staff.
"However, as time went on, it became sickening. On numerous occasions, while disposing of an unthinkable amount of meat, I had to rush out of the back rooms to throw up because of the smell and the realization of what I was doing."
#7
#8
And while Luke's experience is quite shocking, for most consumers who haven't had firsthand experience with food waste on that level, it's rather difficult to digest the scale of this problem. According to 2010 data from the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA), approximately 26% of all meat, poultry, and fish is discarded by Americans at the retail and consumer level. Which means that approximately 1 billion chickens, over 100 million land animals (primarily turkeys, pigs, and cows), as well as around 25 billion fish and 15 billion shellfish (mainly shrimp) are produced, raising global greenhouse gas emission levels, to only end up in the bin.
#9
#10
"Before working there, I considered myself mindful of food and avoiding waste. As a Boy Scout, I learned to respect my food, especially that which has been alive, and be mindful of my own waste production," Luke said. "Working in a grocery store strengthened my determination and made me realize how much corporations contribute to the waste problem."
#11
Although Luke's stint at the meat department didn't last "due to a combination of wanting to focus on school and the interactions with individual employees and upper management that made working there a nightmare," he said that before leaving, he wanted to see to what extent this issue was rooted in the company.
#13
#14
"While I was working there, I did talk to members of the deli department, and they confirmed that they were throwing out a similar or even greater amount of food," Luke explained.
#15
#16
One potential solution to battle food waste - perhaps the most significant - lies in the realm of law. A complex web of federal, state, and local laws creates significant barriers to redirecting food that would otherwise go to waste to those in need. The fear of legal consequences looms over food donations, as individuals or organizations can potentially be held liable if the donated food causes harm, illness, or even death to recipients.
#17
#18
I've seen health inspectors leave low boy doors open for 10 minutes and then take their Temps. Once it's above 40, you're docked. Health departments are corrupt as s**t. Heard rumors about bribes and all the other political corruption that plagues every aspect of the American legal system, but haven't seen anything in person besides that.
Another significant factor contributing to the food waste problem is the high cost associated with its disposal. In the United States, commercial businesses alone generated approximately 7.6 pounds of waste per person per day in 2012, resulting in a staggering annual total of around 251 million tons of commercial waste, as reported by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). The process of transferring and disposing of this commercial waste incurred an estimated cost of $52.5 billion in 2017.
#19
#20
As Alex Roberton, Walmart's spokesperson, told CBC news in 2016: "There's an assumption that retailers don't care. But retailers do care. It costs a lot of money to deal with waste, so it's not in a retailer's interest to just throw stuff out."