3 Effects of Food Waste on the Planet

In Europe about 88 million tonnes of food are wasted annually.

With some goodwill, we can reduce food waste and protect our planet.

Three effects of food waste on our planet are the waste of water, the waste of fossil fuels, and the release of methane gas into the atmosphere.

First of all, Water is used to grow the crops that are then transformed into the different products we eat. It is used to water the animals whose meat is eaten by us. It has many other uses, such as producing energy, growing trees, powering installations, plants, facilities. We live on water. Yet, we waste it. When you throw food in the trash don’t you ever think about all of the resources expended to produce that food? Water is one of them. It gets wasted along the food you throw in the bin because it has been used to no avail.

Water isn’t the only resource involved in the production of food. Fossil fuels are also utilized in this process. They power the machinery which plants, harvests, transports, sorts, cleans, and packages food. Though, differently from water, fossil fuels are not a renewable resource. Once wasted, they are gone. If we want to continue relying on fossil fuels for energy, we will have to use them well, which obviously means not wasting them.

Finally, Wasted food is gathered in landfills. That food then decomposes, or rots. Rotten food releases methane gas, which, unfortunately, is a greenhouse gas. This means that when we waste food we are harming our planet. Methane gas is 25 times more effective at trapping heat in the atmosphere than carbon dioxide, and accounts for 20% of greenhouse gas emissions. These emissions adversely affect earth’s climate.

If we want to preserve the environment we must not waste food.

This is a really important topic because the future of our planet depends on the decisions we make and the things we do nowadays. If we decide to preserve the environment and act in order to limit food waste, future generations will be able to live on a healthy planet. If we don’t do these things, whether there will be a future generation or not becomes a dilemma.

Hawthorne, John. “5 Ways Food Waste is Destroying Our Beautiful Planet”. New Food. newfoodmagazine.com. Aug 9, 2017. Web. Mar 14, 2019.