There is no clear description regarding food waste in a universal matter either historically or presently, making it perplexing in definition and comparison. What is clear is that food waste continues to grow at a rapid pace with the expansion of a world population experiencing societal and agricultural developments in an era where land and other resources are becoming more limited. The increase in waste and category of foods which people throw away has transformed with time through the advancement and evolving of varying cultures. The French labeled “Garbage” specifically as food waste and later broadened the term in applying to refuse in general. The first hunter-gatherer societies picked and killed what they needed to survive, wasting
Methane gas is released from rotting food, which the EPA acknowledges as trapping 23 times as much heat as CO2, declaring it severely harmful to our environment in dispensing global emissions that effect climate change. It’s not just methane gas either; the 30 million tons of food dumped in landfills as mentioned earlier is responsible for the diminution of one-quarter of America’s freshwater supply and close to 300 million barrels of oil a year (Buzby & Hyman, 2012). It is also important to consider the solid waste created through food production and distribution, particularly in the fast food industry. Packaging waste accounts for 93% of the industry’s total waste, yet only 29% is recovered (Aarnio, et al., 2007). Alongside America as top food-wasting contributors, the UK and Japan throw out 30 to 40% of their food annually, ten times more than an individual does in Southeast Asia (Oliver, 2007). The Waste & Resources Action Program (WRAP) reported household waste in the UK equaling 7.2 million mt a year, 4.4 million of which as “avoidable” (Quested & Parry, 2011). The European Commission conducted a study in 2006 concerning food waste that estimated 89 million mt of waste was produced that year, or 179 kg per capita when divided into sectors (Buzby & Hyman, 2012). The European Parliament is making efforts to reduce their food waste in