Food Waste & the Environment

When it’s time to clean out the fridge, do you end up throwing away a lot of produce or leftovers? We know that it happens from time to time, but at EatLove we are focused on efficiency and reducing food waste. In this post, we want to teach you a little more about food waste worldwide and how it impacts the environment. Of course, we will also share some helpful tips to reduce food waste in your home.

The Facts

According to Move for Hunger, about 1/3 of the food that is produced in the world is lost or wasted (1).

What’s the difference? Food loss occurs when foods can’t be consumed due to factors like natural disasters, lack of infrastructure, and poor food management practices. Usually food loss occurs early in the production stages. Food waste refers to consumers throwing out edible food because of a failure to plan properly or throwing out spoiled foods that weren’t consumed. Food waste can be a result of a direct consumer or a supermarket. Either way, that’s food someone could have eaten.

Not only does food waste cause you to waste money on foods that you never ended up eating, but it has major consequences for the environment. Food waste inevitably finds its way to landfills, where it releases methane, a powerful greenhouse gas. Methane is even more powerful than CO2. Large amounts of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere cause the earth to trap heat. Say “hello” to global warming.

Additionally, foods that weren’t consumed represent a waste of water and resources. 70% of all freshwater is used for agricultural purposes (2). Plants require water to survive, and so do animals. According to Move for Hunger, nearly 50,000 liters of water are wasted with every kilogram of beef that is thrown out, and 1,000 liters wasted for every gallon of milk that goes down the drain (3).

We’d also like to point out that food takes space to grow. Food waste also represents unnecessary degradation of land. So, food waste impacts essentially every aspect of the environment: atmosphere, water supply, and the land.

Reducing Food Waste

The good news is that there is much you can do to help reduce food waste.

• Plan ahead. By planning your meals ahead, you can better predict the amount of ingredients you will use. This can help you scale your grocery list accordingly.
• Use EatLove. EatLove automatically adjusts for food waste. That means, it will recommend choices to you that include ingredients you might use in other recipes during the week. For example, if you planned a recipe that included a few teaspoons of chopped green onion, the system may recommend another recipe with green onion to help you get the most out of the ingredient.
• Buy what you need instead of in bulk. While buying ingredients in bulk may save you money, you may not actually need the extra volume of ingredients. It’s better to buy what you need than to save a few extra pennies.
• Create a compost pile. If you do have food scraps, you can create your own compost pile. Compost can help enrich the soil and help it maintain moisture. Plus, diverting food from landfills can help cut down on methane emissions. Learn more about composting from the EPA.
• Go vegetarian for a night. Meat and animal products produce more methane gas than plants (4). By eating vegetarian for just 1 meal each week, you could help reduce methane emissions, conserve water, and more (5).
• Support an organization. There are many organizations that fight food waste around the world. You can learn more about food waste in your community and support the organizations in their mission.

ASK YOURSELF THIS:

• What are the expiration dates for perishable items in your fridge or freezer?
• How often do you find yourself throwing food items away? What items get thrown away the most?

TRY THIS:

Use EatLove to discover meals with overlapping ingredients. You can use the Ingredient Search in swaps to help you find recipes that use the same ingredients. For example, apples and chicken.