Mishael Wahdani
Professor/ Matt Newcomb
ENG 170
December 4, 2020
Minor Paper 4
(Food Waste A Threatening Hazard)
Food waste is the food that ended up not being consumed, definitions for food waste can change since certain people do not consider or have generally not thought about food waste to be a waste material, food waste usually occur in the consumption phase of a certain product, although it can take place in the earlier stages such as retail and production, food waste is considered as one of the major issues that New York city face every year, According to Alex Minassian “Food waste makes up roughly 18% of the waste stream in New York State, and roughly 20% of the city’s waste stream. Approximately 3.9 million tons of wasted New York food makes its way into landfills each year, where it decays and contributes massively to methane” (Minassian). Food waste can damage the environment in many ways, this is a critical subject because it can lead to global warming, food waste produces a dangerous gas called Methane while thrown away in the landfill, this chemical reaction starts when the food gets rotten then it releases the harmful gases, also when we waste food, we are not only wasting just the food we are loosing the energy that was used during the process of creating the food, It also comes with a heavy carbon emissions. It becomes decomposed when food is disposed of in a landfill and becomes a major methane source.
“Two and a half million New Yorkers struggle to have enough to eat. At the same time, 40 percent of the food produced in this country is wasted—and here in New York, food makes up 18 percent of our municipal solid waste stream. The vast majority of this food is disposed of in landfills where it breaks down and releases methane” (Margaret Brown), as Margaret stated that near half of the food produced in the nation end up being not consumed and goes to waste not to mention the resources that was wasted during the production of different food products, these are indicators that food waste is a serious issue that needs our attention. The modern world accelerates the climate change effect through wasting such vast quantities of food. In landfill sites, food waste is dumped in which it dissolves into toxic waste and spreads methane which a strong greenhouse gas.
As shown in the image, daily products are one of the most wasted food products, since it gets rotten faster than any other food products, often people are not aware of their needs when they go grocery shopping so they end up buying an extra unnecessary amount of food, in other case also one of the factors is the hot weather and occasional temperature changes can put dairy products, particularly milk and cheese, at fear of being wasted.
Short Narrative:
A group of friends were at New York city having lunch and enjoying the beautiful weather, suddenly they realized that they bought too much food and they had plenty of leftovers to take home, one of them was checking his watch to see how much time they have to catch the train and he screamed ” we got only five minutes!!!!!!!!” as the other person was in the restaurant waiting for the waiter to bring the leftovers, then they decided to throw the food because they were in a rush and instantly a homeless man approached them and told them ” Can I get this food instead of throwing it away?” he said, then they immediately agreed to give the man the food rather than throwing it away, luckily they didn’t miss the train and they started wondering what if that homeless man was not the only person in need of food in a large city, however they started thinking about that situation and how small things like could make a person`s day, one of the friends who is interested in the sustainable solutions for different type of activities started to educate his friends on how food waste can really harm the environment, and he told them to notice how the weather patterns are changing throughout the years such as it is getting humid in September when it is supposed to be breezy, so they started looking up organizations that deal with food waste in New York city specifically, then they decided to volunteer and to try a new experience in life, they were planning to visit the organization in the city, so when they arrived at the organization they were surprised with the amount food wasted in the city on a daily basis and the amount of food in the warehouse was overwhelming, so they made a decision to join the organization with among other volunteers from different parts in the city, they wanted to contribute to help make New York city a sustainable city and also to battle the food waste issue that is a threat to climate change.
Unfortunately there are some people that do not believe in the whole reducing food waste concept or they may be untroubled to this subject, I found this argument inaccurate, people are clamming that the process of saving food waste is some sort of a waste of resources for instance water, power and compost, however they did not think about the effects that saving food waste holds especially on the longevity, does it use a good portion of our resources? sure, yet it saves the resources on the long run and help keep those resources stable for the next generations.
Work Cited
Bryniarski, Austin. “The War on Food Waste Is a Waste of Time.” The Outline, The Outline, 26 Feb. 2020, theoutline.com/post/8739/food-waste-fight-waste-of-time?zd=2.
“Food Waste: Food by the Numbers.” NYC Food Policy Center, 27 Feb. 2020, www.nycfoodpolicy.org/food-waste-food-by-the-numbers/.
November 28, 2017 Margaret Brown. “How to Feed Hungry New Yorkers and Fight Climate Change.” NRDC, 15 Aug. 2018, www.nrdc.org/experts/margaret-brown/how-feed-hungry-new-yorkers.
“Working to Solve New York’s Food Waste Problem.” New York League of Conservation Voters, 23 Aug. 2018, nylcv.org/news/working-solve-new-yorks-food-waste-problem/.