Sustainable Food Management is a comprehensive approach to minimizing food waste and its environmental consequences throughout the entire food lifecycle. This encompasses everything from the initial use of natural resources and manufacturing processes to sales, consumption, and finally, decisions regarding recovery or disposal.
At foods.edu.vn, we advocate for innovation and recognize the inherent value of food as a precious resource. Through the principles of sustainable food management, we can secure resources for generations to come, significantly reduce greenhouse gas emissions that contribute to climate change, help both businesses and consumers achieve cost savings, and ensure access to nutritious food for those facing food insecurity. Embracing a circular economy is crucial, and sustainable food management plays a vital role in utilizing raw materials more efficiently, maximizing their value, and recovering valuable resources from discarded materials. This approach is essential for tackling climate change, fostering inclusive communities, and driving innovation and economic growth.
Defining Wasted Food and Its Origins
It’s important to clarify what we mean by “wasted food.”
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The term “wasted food” encompasses any food that hasn’t been used for its intended purpose. This broad definition includes various management methods. We use “wasted food” rather than “food waste” to emphasize that we are losing a valuable resource, not just discarding something without worth. “Food waste” can imply that the food is valueless and simply needs disposal.
Let’s break down the terminology further:
- Wasted food: This overarching term covers food not used for its intended purpose and managed through various methods. These include donating to food banks, repurposing as animal feed, composting, anaerobic digestion, or landfill disposal. Examples range from unsold supermarket items and restaurant leftovers to kitchen scraps from homes and byproducts from food processing. “Wasted food” includes both excess and food waste.
- Excess food (or surplus food): This specifically refers to food that is safe and suitable for human consumption and is often donated to food banks and food rescue organizations to feed people in need.
- Food waste: This term commonly refers to food discarded or recycled after it’s no longer intended for human consumption. This includes plate waste (food served but uneaten), spoiled food, and parts considered inedible like peels. From a Sustainable Development Goal perspective (Target 12.3), food waste occurs at retail, foodservice, and residential levels and is managed through landfilling, incineration, sewer systems, composting, anaerobic digestion, and land application.
- Food loss: This primarily refers to food lost in the agricultural sector before reaching retailers, such as unharvested crops or food lost during processing and transportation. SDG Target 12.3 defines food loss as occurring from production up to, but excluding, the retail level.
To effectively manage wasted food, it’s essential to understand the Wasted Food Scale. This hierarchy prioritizes actions to prevent and divert food waste from landfills. Prioritizing prevention, donation, and upcycling offers the most significant benefits for the environment, communities, and the development of a circular economy. These are fundamental “Food Basics” for a sustainable future.
The Importance of Sustainable Food Management: Why It’s a Food Basic
Addressing wasted food is not just about tackling a growing problem; it’s about unlocking significant opportunities. In 2019 alone, the EPA estimated that approximately 66 million tons of food were wasted in retail, foodservice, and residential sectors in the U.S. Alarmingly, around 60% of this ended up in landfills. In 2018, food was the single largest component in US landfills and incinerators, accounting for 24% of landfilled material and 22% of combusted material. The USDA estimates that in 2010, 31% of the available food at the retail and consumer levels – a staggering 133 billion pounds – went uneaten, representing a value of roughly $162 billion. Globally, the UN estimates that one-third of all food produced for human consumption is lost or wasted. This breaks down to 13% lost before reaching retail and 19% wasted from retail to consumers. This massive scale of food loss and waste contributes to 8-10% of global greenhouse gas emissions annually. In fact, the annual emissions from wasted food in the U.S. surpass the combined emissions from all domestic flights within the U.S. and all international flights operated by U.S. airlines.
Wasting food means wasting the opportunity to nourish people and squandering the vast resources invested in food production – land, water, energy, labor, and transportation. Understanding and addressing food waste is a “food basic” because it’s intrinsically linked to environmental stewardship, community well-being, and economic efficiency. Adopting sustainable food management practices is a triple win: beneficial for the environment, strengthens communities, and boosts the economy.
Conserving Resources and Reducing Greenhouse Gas Emissions: Core Food Basics
Reducing wasted food is a cornerstone of environmental responsibility and a key “food basic” for a sustainable lifestyle.
- Resource Conservation: When food is wasted, we waste all the resources used in its production. This includes land, water, energy, and human labor involved in growing, storing, processing, distributing, and preparing food. Annually, the land area used to produce wasted food globally is equivalent to the size of California and New York combined. The energy wasted is enough to power 50 million US homes for a year and generates greenhouse gas emissions (excluding landfill emissions) equivalent to 42 coal-fired power plants. Understanding this resource footprint is a fundamental “food basic.”
- Greenhouse Gas Reduction: A significant portion of greenhouse gas emissions associated with wasted food occurs before disposal, during production, transport, processing, and distribution. Even after food becomes waste, management pathways like donation, upcycling, composting, anaerobic digestion, and landfilling contribute to emissions. Preventing food waste in the first place and sustainably managing unavoidable waste are critical steps in emissions reduction – essential “food basics” for climate action.
- Methane Reduction from Landfills: When food waste decomposes in landfills, it produces methane, a potent greenhouse gas 28 times more effective at trapping heat than CO2. EPA estimates that food waste is responsible for 58% of methane emissions from landfills. Reducing landfill-bound food waste is a crucial “food basic” for mitigating climate change.
- Nutrient Return to Soil: Even with maximum effort to utilize wasted food, inedible parts remain. Composting these materials transforms them into a valuable soil amendment. Composting these wastes creates a product that enriches soil, supports future crop growth, and improves water quality. Understanding composting and nutrient cycling is a practical “food basic” for environmental stewardship.
- Circular Economy Support: Preventing food waste, prioritizing food for human consumption, and recovering nutrients from unavoidable waste are all integral to a circular economy. This approach minimizes stress on natural resources, empowers communities, strengthens local economies, and fosters innovation. Embracing circular economy principles in food is a forward-thinking “food basic.”
EPA’s comprehensive reports, “From Farm to Kitchen: The Environmental Impacts of U.S. Food Waste” (Part 1) and “From Field to Bin: The Environmental Impacts of U.S. Food Waste Management Pathways” (Part 2), provide in-depth analysis of the environmental impacts of wasted food. These reports form the basis of EPA’s Wasted Food Scale, a valuable tool for understanding and implementing sustainable food management strategies.
Helping Communities: Social Food Basics
Preventing and sustainably managing wasted food, alongside recovering nutritious food for those in need, are vital “food basics” for community well-being. Food waste reduction efforts can significantly contribute to food security and support vulnerable populations. Donating surplus food to food banks and charities ensures that edible food reaches individuals and families facing hunger. This not only reduces waste but also strengthens social safety nets and promotes community resilience.
Saving Money: Economic Food Basics
Reducing food waste is not just environmentally and socially responsible; it’s also economically sound. Understanding the economic benefits of reducing waste is a crucial “food basic” for both households and businesses.
- Waste Less, Spend Less: By purchasing only the food needed and utilizing it effectively, individuals and organizations can significantly reduce food expenditures. Preventing waste also lowers associated costs like energy and labor for disposal.
- Lower Trash Pickup Costs: Businesses can reduce waste disposal fees by diverting food waste from landfills. Many waste haulers offer lower rates for separated organic waste destined for recycling facilities.
- Tax Benefits for Donation: Donating safe, edible food to food banks can provide tax benefits for organizations. The Bill Emerson Good Samaritan Act protects food donors from liability, encouraging food donation and reducing waste.
By understanding and implementing these “food basics” of sustainable food management, we can collectively move towards a more responsible, resilient, and sustainable food system that benefits the environment, our communities, and our economies.
Sources of Statistics
[1] U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA)
[2] Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO)
[3] United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP)
[4] Project Drawdown
[5] World Resources Institute (WRI)
[6] Environmental Protection Agency (EPA)
