FOOD WASTE AND ITS IMPACT ON THE ENVIRONMENT AND THE

ECONOMY

HOW ADDRESSING FOOD WASTE CAN HELP MITIGATE THE EFFECTS OF

CLIMATE CHANGE AND POTENTIAL SOLUTIONS FOR REDUCING FOOD WASTE

  
  
  
___________________________________________________________

Tessa Saari, Alisher Nurimanov, Khai Lai, Tomi Pirinen

 

Team Report

Academic Writing 
Instructor: Beryl Pittman
Date of submission: 11 November 2022 
  
  
Declaration 
  
By completing this cover sheet and declaration, I confirm that this assignment is my
work, is not copied from work (published or unpublished) of any other person, and has
not previously been submitted for assessment either at Aalto University or another
educational establishment. Any direct or indirect uses of material (e.g., text, visuals,
ideas…) from other sources have been fully acknowledged and cited according to the
conventions of the Harvard Referencing System. 
Introduction
"If food waste were a country, it would be the third largest producer of carbon dioxide in
the world, just after the U.S. & China" (U.N., 2013). This statement effectively illustrates
the extent of irresponsible consumption of resources in the world today and how it
drives climate change. One of the 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)
composed by the United Nations is SDG 12, titled Responsible consumption and
production. It considers the scarce nature of Earth’s resources and the environmental
impact of resource depletion. At the center of resource, misallocation lies global food
wastage, a growing concern for both developed and developing nations. As the world
population steadily increases, so does the need for food, water, and other resources.
The scarcity of resources prevents humans from using them excessively, thus,
indicating that the human population cannot grow past a particular stage without
depriving the Earth of its natural resources and fueling climate change. Ultimately, food
wastage implies not only physical pollution but also the resources spent in production
being wasted and the release of carbon emissions.

The government, businesses, and individuals must collaborate to reduce the amount of
food waste in the world, which intensifies global warming and harms the economy and
recommend specific steps for individual players and actors involved. Our report
considers the significant consequences of food waste on the environment and the
economy. Then it will seek to explain the role of the government, businesses, and
individuals in coping with food waste and discuss potential solutions. Finally, this paper
will address some counterarguments related explicitly to how reducing food waste
harms businesses’ profits and the argument that reducing food waste is a waste of time.

Why food waste matters and its effect on the environment

According to the United Nations (2022), almost one-third of all agricultural land used to
produce food will be wasted, and almost 17% of all food produced will be wasted. Food
wastage causes both environmental and economic issues.
Waste of food means that natural resources that were spent on producing the food are
also wasted. When producing food, good land is an essential factor. However,
excessive land use may lead to lower soil quality (Mourad, 2016). Not only soil quality
but also deforestation, waste of water, and air pollution are the issues that arise from
food production. (Mourad, 2016). According to the U.S. Department of Agriculture
(2021), 170 million metric tons of CO2 resulted directly from food waste utilization in the
United States. To understand the scale of the problem, it is essential to note that the
United States has 5,130 million metric tons of CO2 emissions each year (USGS, 2019).
Emissions of food waste have a shared of 3.31% of overall emissions produced by a
country.

From economic means, according to the Food and Agriculture Organization by United
Nations (2014), it was calculated that approximately 1 trillion USD is being wasted each
year. According to a recent report, 1.3 billion tons of food worth USD 2.6 trillion is
discarded yearly, and this wasted food could feed up to 815 million people (FAO, 2019).

Based on the information above, the food waste problem is one of the target areas to
focus on while trying to reach sustainable development goals. A substantial amount of
capital could be used efficiently if costs were cut, and the food waste problem would be
solved.

The reasons for food waste

Food waste is estimated to cost the global economy $750 billion annually. The question
of who is responsible for reducing consumer food waste is no longer relevant. We are
all part of food supply chains and contribute to the amount of food waste every year in
some way, and the consequences of food waste affect us all. The responsibilities lie on
not only the shoulder of the retailer corporate or the government but also the
consumers, who play a crucial role in the food supply chains. The reasons behind a
large amount of food waste include the following:

 The development of technology:

The development of the internet and its prevalent use has motivated restaurants and
third-party delivery platforms (e.g., Uber Eats drivers) to provide delivery services . With
just a click, a person can easily buy ten or even hundreds of food items with no effort
and receive bonuses, encouraging consumers to buy more food without considering
their actual needs.

 Food retailers’ problems and misleading marketing campaigns:

Food retailers with obsolete inventory systems produce many perishable goods that go
to waste. It is estimated that due to the outdated inventory system, nearly 16 billion tons
of food go wasted every year just in the U.S. only. This could be explained by the over-
focus on marketing strategies and visual appeal rather than focusing on the
preservation process, which directly affects the quality and the number of foods
delivered to the customer.

Nowadays, with appealing marketing from many retailers, consumers have a higher
“aesthetic standard” regarding fresh products. Consumers expect fruits and vegetables
to bend vegetables to be “perfect” with no blemishes and fit the standards with idealized
shapes, colors, and sizes. As a result, the food supply chain operates based on the
notion that “[food] is either perfect, or it gets rejected ." Farmers and food producers
would end up harvesting only food that meets the “aesthetics standards," and food that
is perfectly edible but has not passed the test will rot in the field or be sent to landfills.

Misleading labels also contribute to the large number of foods going wasted. Retailers
usually label their products with "best before dates," which are also known as
“expiration dates” or "sell-by dates," without proper explanations. In this way, many
people have the wrong idea about this kind of labeling and throw away food that is still
edible. In fact, according to FDA, Expiration dates are only an indication of maximum
quality as determined by the producer, and food may be safe to consume well beyond
use-by dates if properly stored.

 Food waste at home:

Food waste includes environmental, social, and economic implications that begin at the
farm and escalate with each subsequent step toward the consumer. For this reason, the
household is the worst place for food waste to take place. It is estimated that
households in economically developed countries accounted for nearly 27 percent of
their country’s food waste. Imagine the situation, this means we would throw away
nearly one-third of the food we buy; however, we would not accept them if the same
inefficiencies of similar magnitude took place. For example, we would be upset if the
cashier threw away one of every three products we purchased or if restaurants only
gave us one-third of our orders. This could be explained by our unawareness of the
amount of food we waste at home. Throwing out expired products that have been
pushed to the back of the refrigerator is seen as cleaning rather than wasting. Not
eating overripe brown bananas is more health-conscious than wasteful, and throwing
away small leftovers is seen as an unavoidable part of dishwashing.

Economic benefits of food waste management

A large amount of money could be saved by effectively establishing a food waste
management system. Decreasing the amount of food waste will positively affect the
state’s economy (Martinez-Sanchez et al., 2016).

Leftover food could be allocated effectively to donation or animal feed by cutting costs
and thus positively contributing to the economy (Eriksson et al., 2015). Moreover, not
only macro-level benefits are expected but also small and medium-sized businesses in
the food industry may experience a positive impact on their revenue if these businesses
establish a food management system. According to Betz et al. (2015), the average
Swiss food company could avoid approximately 68,000 CHF (Swiss Franc) each year.
Switzerland is one of many countries that could benefit from the food management
system. According to Engström & Carlsson-Kanyama (2004) and Silvennoinen et al.
(2012), Sweden and Finland are the countries that have an average of 16.5% and
22.5%, respectively, of overall food waste the in the food service industry.

Overall, food waste management benefits on a macro scale and helps industries at the
end of the added value chain, such as the food service and hospitality industry.
According to Betz et al. (2015), the food service industry is the top three sources of
wasted food. Therefore, even the most minor contributors to food waste could benefit
from food waste management.

Counterarguments regarding food waste and Rebuttals

A. Pursuing sustainability will harm businesses’ profits
The most common counterargument for adopting sustainable strategies in food supply
chains is that it does not make sense for the company profits-wise. With consumers
setting such high standards for “aesthetics” foods, food producers and retailers argue
that they would end up spending more money on harvesting crops that are perfectly
edible but do not pass the "aesthetics" test, and they instead send these crops straight
to the landfills or let they rot in the garden. In this way, they believe they can save much
more money and maintain their profits. However, blemished foods or “ugly foods” can
be utilized and sold to customers, cutting a considerable amount of food waste from the
supply chain while still generating profits for businesses. Using effective marketing
strategies such as colorful displays and exciting packaging, retailers can encourage
consumers to see how blemished food is still edible and has the same nutrients as
those “aesthetics” foods. In addition, blemished foods can be sold for lower prices and
have their own discounted sections in the market or supermarket. This way, businesses
can cut a large amount of food waste out of the supply chain while maintaining profits.

B. Attempt to reduce food waste is a waste of time when the food

system is problematic

"The entire food economy is a mess" (Bryniarski, 2019). Significant gaps exist between
consumption, production, and social values; therefore, recycling food and reducing food
waste from the food chain wastes time. Another environmental appeal anti-waste
advocates make what is often referred to as the "embedded inputs" argument. Because
producing food includes using soil, pesticides, fuels, and water, food waste is often seen
as the waste of all these inputs. “This kind of thinking allows us to claim that when we
waste food, we also waste 19 percent of agricultural lands, 21 percent of the water used
in agriculture, and 18 percent of all fertilizer applied to farms (in the U.S., at least). This
creative thinking suggests that wasting less food would undo all the harms of food
production, but the nutrient cycle does not care whether you finish your plate”
(Bryniarski, 2019).

However, this argument falls into the logic “if we cannot fix it right away, why should we
bother about it”. While it is true that the food system still needs to improve from both
logistics viewpoints and fix the gaps between producers and consumers, it does not
mean we should remain calm about what happens around the world every day. There
are 1.3 billion tons of food waste every day, and if we give that food to chronically
undernourished people, we would have enough to feed them ten meals daily (WFP,
2020). Moreover, food waste in landfills releases methane, which is 28 times more
potent than carbon dioxide, and hangs in the air for 12 years while trapping most of the
heat from the sun. Scientists also suggest that if we can cut back the amount of food
waste, we could reduce by approximately 11 percent greenhouse gas emissions
generated from the food system.

Food waste does cause harm to natural resources. These natural resources include
water, energy, and fuels. Water is required in most phases of producing foods and in all
food types, and 70 percent of the world's water is for agriculture. This comprises water
for rearing livestock, poultry, crop irrigation, and fish husbandry. Additionally, different
plants and crops need different amounts of water to grow, and livestock also needs a
large amount of water to survive and thrive. Producing meat requires much water, yet
meat is the most wasted product. It is also determined that we spend nearly $220 billion
cultivating, growing, transporting, and processing food while nearly 70 million tons of
food end up in landfills.

Solutions to the problem

There has been a vast amount of research regarding solutions to food waste issues.
The central part is establishing the food management system. However, the question is
which management strategy is the most efficient: management of the production chain,
where governmental policies and economic involvement may help, or management of
the supply chain, where proper allocation techniques will solve the problem.

A. Potential Food System Designation.

In their research, Eriksson et al. (2015) offered six different scenarios of allocating
wasted food. Different categories of unsold foods are expected to be allocated
effectively: unsold foods would be recycled into products for donation, animal feed,
anaerobic digestion, composting, incineration, and landfill. Moreover, each type of food
should have the most efficient waste management options since different wasted
products have different amounts of CO2 emissions produced. For example, while
chicken has 3.5kg of CO2 per kg of food, lettuce has 0.30kg of CO2 per kg of food
(Eriksson et al., 2015)

Figure 1. Waste management scenarios of wasted food (Eriksson et al. 2015)

B. Surplus Food Donation

Additional costs have hindered the possible solution of food donations. For example,
Demetriou (2022) discovered that although employees within companies are willing to
donate unconsumed food, the additional costs, including transportation and storage,
create barriers against donations. The possible workaround to this problem lies within
state support. As highlighted by Bohdanowicz (2006), having the support of local
government bodies has a significant impact on decreasing the barriers associated with
food waste mitigation. Engaging the different shareholders of the food redistribution
network should be done by targeted policy interventions, like in France, where
legislation states that supermarkets are not allowed to dump excess food but are
required to donate it for animal feed (White, 2015).

Although governmental action is essential to mitigating food waste, policy has

drawbacks. There are multiple laws regarding health and safety standards worldwide,
which can lead to questions about the legality of donating food. For example, European
hotels are discouraged from donating food due to potential liability issues regarding
health and safety (Sakaguchi et al. 2018). There are also cases where policy decisions
increase food waste. As Heikkilä (2016) highlighted, European law requires businesses
to dispose of any food items damaged during the supply chain. So, food is dumped just
based on appearance or incorrect labeling. However, the main problem is implementing
laws associated with liability among donated items. However, countries with these
stricter laws could implement something like the "Good Samaritan Act" that was passed
in 1996 in the United States. This bill protects food donors from liability in cases of a
product given in good faith causing harm to the recipient.

C. Policies regarding the food system

Governments, businesses, and financiers are already making significant advances to

abate the problem; however, a significant acceleration is required. Governments and
businesses worldwide are urging them to take bold steps to meet national and
international targets of reducing food waste by 50 percent by 2030 through three
essential actions.

1. Invest in prevention and keep food waste out of landfills

Investing in infrastructure and programs that enable the government to measure and
prevent excessive waste, incentivize food rescue, and minimize the amount of waste
out of landfills will aid in mitigating the effects of climate change, raising farmer profits,
and feeding more people. Furthermore, governments worldwide can offer programs or
organizations that Incentivizes Organic Waste Measurement and eliminate barriers to
feeding food scraps to animals.

2. Educate and activate the consumers

It is estimated that nearly 28 percent of food waste comes from households. Therefore,
it is crucial to educate the public about the necessity of sustainable consumption and
the adverse effects of food waste. Government agencies, businesses, and consumers
can benefit from coordinated public efforts to educate consumers on food waste
reduction techniques, as the United Kingdom, South Korea, and others prove.
Policymakers can build unified campaigns to increase awareness and drive action by
leveraging national advertisements and social marketing campaigns.

D. Standardize National Date Labeling

Food label confusion is the most common reason people waste food. Label
inconsistency contributes to additional waste in grocery shops, limiting the donation of
healthy foods over their expiration dates to food rescue organizations. In the United
States, recent voluntary initiatives have consolidated around the standard labels "BEST
if Used By" for peak food quality and "USE By" for food safety. This uniformity, however,
can only succeed if the industry adopts it and customers are educated on how to
understand these labels. With the conformity of food labeling, the education streamlines
for the customer will be expanded. Therefore, it is suggested that government bodies
worldwide adopt an international food labeling standard. International labeling
standards, along with good education programs and campaigns, will help effectively
tackle the food waste problem.

Conclusion

Food wastage is a significant climate change driver that governments, NGOs, and
consumers must urgently address and tackle to minimize damage to the environment
and future generations. The most evident is the amount of carbon emission produced by
food waste and economic losses. This research points out several solutions to improve
the situation by educating consumers, adopting sustainable marketing strategies, and
formulating policies that incentivize sustainable food consumption and production
programs. When appropriately controlled, reducing food wastage can aid in climate
change mitigation and enforce new standards for sustainable living.

Reducing food waste may appear too large for a single firm to solve. However, history
has shown that even the most minor initiatives may have far-reaching consequences
and motivate others to join the cause. Collaboration between consumers, governments,
and businesses is now more conceivable than ever, mainly because purchasing food is
not only a need, but also an act of cultural expression in which consumers reward
enterprises that reflect their values. Less food lost and wasted will reduce the
environmental impact of production, transportation, and the disposal of never eaten
food. Nonetheless, decreasing food waste is more than just economics, logistics, or the
environment. It is also a fundamentally moral decision.

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