Article Overview
Explore the environmental impact of food waste and learn how households, schools, and communities can prevent it.
Food Waste Is More Than Wasted Food
Producing food requires land, water, energy, labor, transportation, storage, and packaging. When edible food is discarded, many of the resources used to produce it are wasted as well.
Thinking about the entire journey from farm to table helps explain why preventing food waste can have environmental benefits beyond reducing the amount of material in a trash bin.
Key Points
Food production requires many different resources.
Discarded food represents wasted resources as well as wasted food.
Preventing waste can reduce unnecessary environmental impacts.
Why Food Gets Wasted
Food can be lost or wasted during production, transportation, retail, restaurants, schools, and inside homes.
People may purchase too much food, misunderstand date labels, prepare portions that are too large, or forget about food before it can be eaten.
Key Points
Food waste occurs at multiple stages.
Planning and storage can prevent some household waste.
Schools can examine cafeteria waste to identify patterns.
Prevention Comes First
The best way to address food waste is to prevent edible food from becoming waste in the first place.
Planning meals, taking reasonable portions, storing food correctly, and finding appropriate ways to redistribute usable surplus food can all help.
Reducing Food Waste at School
Students can study cafeteria waste, identify commonly discarded foods, and work with school staff to investigate possible improvements.
Any food redistribution or composting project should follow school rules and appropriate health and safety requirements.
Key Points
Measure the problem before proposing changes.
Work with cafeteria and school staff.
Focus first on preventing edible food from being wasted.
Main Takeaways
What to Remember
Food waste also wastes the resources used to produce food.
Waste can occur throughout the food system.
Preventing waste is preferable to managing it after disposal.
Schools can use data to identify practical improvements.
Discussion Questions
Continue the Conversation
What foods are most commonly wasted at your school?
Why might people take more food than they eat?
How could a school measure food waste?
Written By
Give Earth a Smile Education Team
Environmental Education
