by Suz Neave

Created on: July 19, 2008

On the 12th April millions of people took to the streets to protest about world starvation. According to the UN, food production must rise by 50% to support the 854 million people that are short of food. With figures quoted in web articles, such as those on www.globalissues.org, stating that 27 -28% of all children in developing countries are estimated to be underweight or stunted, it seems surprising that we should even be discussing food wastage. But, the reality is, there is food wastage, and masses of it.

So who's responsible for all this waste, when a significant percentage of the world's population have hardly enough to sustain life? Well an article written on the Independent web page in May this year by Martin Hickman, provides a very direct answer. Britain alone throws away 5.6 million tonnes of biodegradable waste annually. A similar analysis of other developed nations, i'm sure, would be just as revealing.

There are many ways that this waste affects the environment. Firstly, production. Production of food is very costly to the environment in its own right. Vast areas of land needs to be cleared into order to plant a crop that will feed a nation. This land, once being a wealth of biodiversity is replaced with miles of monoculture. But the damage doesn't stop there. In order to maintain and protect a monoculture system, fertilizers and pesticides need to be used. Although their direct impact may not be initially realized, years of conventional approaches to farming, lead to long-term poisoning of terrestrial and aquatic ecosystems and depletion of the living entities of the soil.

Secondly, waste in processing and consumption, which needs to be disposed of. Breaking down of food waste results in the production of methane gas, potentially contributing to global warming. I work with farmers that export vegetables to the UK and Europe. In order for a packet of beans to come out nice and straight and all the same length, we have to reject 20 - 30% of the produce that comes from the field (some of which is absorbed by the local markets), this is very wasteful before the product has even reached the shelves. If people buy loose fresh produce - typically the unblemished tomatoes are selected first. This leaves the slightly misshapen and scarred tomato to wait out its life on the display, as it is repeatedly pushed aside, whilst the consumer reaches for perfection. Its ultimate fate is the rubbish bin. Finally, going back to the article by Martin Hickman, we obviously buy more than we could ever consume: 4.4 million apples,1.6 million bananas and 5.1 million potatoes, just to quote a few.

Living in a developing country, my obvious response would be the scream out "Stop wasting food! Why buy more than you need in the first place! And hey I bet the neglected tomato there is far more tastier!". However, the generation of waste is inevitable, so in reality our focus should not only look at reducing waste, but also to look at how to dispose of the waste so that is has a minimal impact on the environment. "Green" waste can easily be composted or returned back into the soil. Or, it can be turned into biofuel to limit the damaging effects of our energy thirsty society. An initiative that was taken up by InSource Energy Ltd, a joint venture between Scottish and Southern Energy in the UK.

We need to reduce the amount of food waste that we produce, but also we need to optimize productivity of land already in production and develop a far more environmentally friendly approach to commercial agriculture. We shouldn't have to feed the world at the expense of the environment and we certainly shouldn't be wasting such a vital life sustaining commodity!

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