Draft Introduction

- Background
About 1.3 billion tons of food is wasted globally per year. This amounts to about one-third of all
food being produced for human consumption.
https://eportfolios.macaulay.cuny.edu/koutavas3/background-information-2/

- Problem
This comes with a ​heavy carbon footprint as well. When food is disposed of in a landfill it rots
and becomes a significant source of methane - a potent greenhouse gas with 21 times the global
warming potential of carbon dioxide.

The global food system is responsible for up to one-third of all human-caused greenhouse gas
emissions, making it one of the largest contributors to climate change​, according to the
Consultative Group on International Agricultural Research.

The fact that we carelessly waste 40% of our food in the U.S. and 33% globally means there is
huge potential to reduce our environmental footprint. Big picture, energy, and transportation tend
to be the face of climate change, but with food’s impact arguably larger it definitely deserves
more of a focus.
https://www.forbes.com/sites/quora/2018/07/18/what-environmental-problems-does-wasting-foo
d-cause/#6e824e062f7a

When food is thrown into your household bin it is taken to landfill, where it turns bad…really
bad. It isn’t exposed to enough oxygen to allow it to naturally biodegrade, so it rots and decays,
releasing the destructive greenhouse gas methane into the air – a gas which is much more
harmful to the planet than carbon dioxide.

https://www.greenerscotland.org/food-waste/about-food-waste/why-is-food-waste-important

Food loss and waste contribute heavily to climate change, making up around 8% of total global
greenhouse gas emissions. Around 1 billion tonnes of CO2e per year could be avoided if,
globally, humanity tackled food loss and waste across the value chain.
https://www.unilever.com/sustainable-living/reducing-environmental-impact/waste-and-packagi
ng/reducing-food-waste/

One-third of the food produced globally is wasted; that is 1.3 billion tonnes of food that is never
eaten. We might not realize how much of a problem food waste is because we are blind to its
effects. When we throw our food into the bin we don’t see the harmful greenhouse gases it is
going to release in the landfill. We also don’t see the fuel and resources that went into producing
the food or see the people around the world who are hungry. All we see is an apple in the bin.
There are other costs to food waste.

https://lovefoodhatewaste.co.nz/food-waste/the-global-issue/

https://jpspn.kpkt.gov.my/resources/index/user_1/3R/panduan_3R/SWMC_CI_Creating%20Aw
areness%20and%20Public%20Participation%20on%20Recycling%20Among%20Hawkers%20i
n%20Subang%20Jaya.pdf

Food waste in this country has reached a critical level as data by Solid Waste Management and
Public Cleansing Corporation (SWCorp) shows that 55 percent of solid waste disposed at
landfills comprises food.

https://www.thestar.com.my/news/nation/2018/10/15/malaysians-throwing-away-food-at-alarmi
ng-rate

- Objective
● To study the willingness of customers to separate (observe)
● To study the reason why they chose to separate / not separate (survey)