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Food waste is the single-largest source of waste in municipal landfills. According to the EPA, 35 billion pounds of food were thrown away in 2011. As it decomposes in landfills, the waste releases methane and other greenhouse gases into the atmosphere.

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This column gives you more information about food waste. It shows the rules of the government, the cons of food waste, statistics and ways to cut food waste. So, you can see the severity of the problem and what YOU can do about food waste!

First you need to know the definition of food waste. Food waste or food loss is food that is thrown away or lost uneaten. The causes of food waste or food loss are countless, and occur at the stages of production, processing, retailing and consumption

Worldwide, one third of the entire food production is thrown away. This does not only cost a lot of money, but it also wastes valuable resources such as water, soil and energy. This is one of the reasons why the government wants to reduce food waste.

Besides that, there are high levels of what is known as food loss in developing countries. This food loss is unintentional wastage, because those countries have poor equipment, transportation and infrastructure. This contradicts the food waste in wealthy countries. They intentionally throw away their food because, for example they’ve purchased too much.

Now you have a better idea of what food waste exactly means.

Carolien van den Broek

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The government wants to reduce food waste. The main goal is, to reduce the food waste for 50% by 2030.

1. The government wants to inform people about food waste and about the consequences. They also want to inform them about how they can cook a meal in a frugal way.

2. Companies and restaurants have to offer smaller meals to their visitors. Restaurant holders throw away way too much food in a day. We could feed a lot of people with all of that waste.

3. The government works together with an organization. This organization is called ‘Alliance Sustainability Food’. Together with some other companies and organizations, they want to reduce the food waste in restaurants, companies, farmers and supermarkets.

4. In our new cabinet, Rutte III, they made a new law. This law concludes that restaurant owners will be given more freedom to donate their leftovers to the food bank.

Fleur Gijsen

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This part is going to be about the cons of food waste. Wasting food has ecological, economic and social consequences.

Ecological

By unnecessarily throwing away your food: you not only waste your money, but also the energy used in the production, packaging, transportation, refrigeration and food preparation.  With every kilogram of food that you throw away, you actually waste 1.3 litres of petrol. Reducing food waste will gain a lot with regard to our climate.

Economic

Although it’s logical that most money gets thrown away by customers and producers. Unnecessary food waste also causes high costs for waste management. Let’s take a look at this diagram. As you can see, these costs are in the maintenance of landfills (where the food usually ends up), transportation costs, and in some cases the cost of waste separation.

It is therefore safe to say that if we did not waste as much food as we currently do, we would save a lot of money.

Social

Wasting food also raises social issues on, especially given the current global financial crisis, rising food prices and international food shortages. It is estimated that a third to a half of all current food production ends up wasted. And that while 12% of the world’s population is malnourished. Everyday, people from around the World unnecessarily throw away their food, not thinking about the famine that takes place in Third World countries like Africa.

As you can see there are a lot of cons to food waste. Therefore, we should focus on reducing it instead of fighting it.

Jainy van de Nieuwenhof

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First of all I would like to say that 1.3 billion tonnes of all the food on this earth ends up in the garbage can, what equals ¼ of the total food production. A huge amount if you realize that you could feed the complete population of Asia of all the food that has been wasted or lost.

The food we waste

Fruits and vegetables are the things we waste the most. Almost 45% of all the fruits and vegetables will never be eaten, so as 45% of the roots and tubers. Further on 30% of the cereals, 20 % of the dairy, 20% of the meat, 20% of the oilseeds and pulses and 35% of the fish and seafoods are things we lost or wasted the most. Which contains 8% of the fish and seafood what has been caught globally is thrown back in the see even though they have been dead, dying or badly damaged.

Food waste per sector

Restaurants are by far the biggest food wasters, they lost £682 million on food which has been lost or wasted. The great runner up, pubs, lose £375 million on food waste every year. Other sectors which wasted huge amounts are hotels (£318 million), fast-food (£277million), schools (£250 million) and healthcare (£230 million)

Climate

Food waste is not only a financial or social problem it also bring a lot of climate problems along. So if food waste was a country, it would be the third largest CO₂ producer after the United States and China. Food waste produce 3 billion tonnes liters of greenhouse gas emitter.

Some other shocking facts

That food waste is different all over the world shows the following fact: an European throws away 115 kilo per person while someone in Africa just throws away 6 kilo.

The total food production per capita in a riches countries is 900 kilo, this is twice the 460 kilos production in poor countries.

Lotte van der Laan

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Now you know that food waste is a huge problem. Unconsciously we still throw away our food. We do this because:

-          There is too much food prepared

-          The food is expired

We find it important to give you some tips to cut food waste.

The first tip is to shop smart: You should plan meals ahead. Think of meals you want to eat through out the week. Also, make a shopping list, because this will show you what you don’t have at home and what you do need. Follow in the mall your shopping list and try not to buy unnecessary food. How do you prevent to buy unnecessary groceries? Don’t go to the mall when you are hungry. Decide ahead how much you want to spend on groceries.

The second tip is to buy exactly what you need: Buy everything separately. If you need 2 bell peppers, don’t buy a package of 3. This will prevent you from buying too much groceries. If you miss something, you can always go back to the shop.

The next tip is to think realistic: If you live alone, you should not buy a lot of food. You cannot eat this all by yourself.

Also, you should monitor what you throw away: If you keep this up, you have a better view the next time you buy groceries. It will help you to purchase the amount of food that you need. For example, if you throw away bread; next time, you should buy less bread.

Besides, make a list of expired dates: You should hang the list on your fridge. This is so you know which groceries are almost expired.

Whenever you prepare a lot of food, don’t throw it away. Put it in the freezer! You can eat it another time or you can give it to your neighbour or family members who don’t have a lot of time to buy groceries.

And finally, check your stock: put everything in your stock by date and see what you already have at home.

Maria Nguyen

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By reading this magazine you will get a better picture of what food waste is really all about. The statistics will show the severity of the problem.

Because food waste is a huge problem in almost every wealthy country, the government has drawn up some rules as you can read.

To make you aware of the problem as a reader, we have shown you all the drawbacks of food waste.

We have also given you some tips against food waste.

Hopefully, we have inspired you enough to do something with the tips! Because you as a reader can also do something against food waste.

Thank you for reading this magazine!

Carolien van den Broek