Wasting tons of food when other people are starving is highly unethical. It’s also costing our environment dearly.
Across the developed world we waste millions of tonnes of food. This is:
- hugely expensive
- responsible for substantial wasted carbon emissions
- consuming packaging and transport resources unnecessarily
- highly unethical
- contributing to landfill and waste pollution
At least a third of all food produced globally is never eaten, and the value of this wasted food is worth over $1 trillion a year. According to OLIO, all of the world’s nearly one billion hungry people could be fed on less than a quarter of the food that is wasted in the US, UK and Europe (www.olioex.com).
All in all, it’s got to stop! This will have to come, at least partly, as a result of improving our own self control as consumers and shoppers.
Action is also needed at national and international level to improve things, but we can do a lot as individuals if we act collectively.