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Stopping the waste of food







This article, from the food coach newsletter, addressing food waste in NSW (Australia) probably reflects much the same as where you live - assuming that it is in a Western country.

"In NSW alone, food waste is the single largest component of household bins. It equates to approximately $2.5 billion worth of edible food a year and frankly, after hearing only last week that there are over 2 million people in NSW who seek food relief each year, I find this figure chilling. How can we throw away food so mindlessly when there are people out there who can't afford to feed their families from one week to the next?

The effect on the environment is also worth being reminded of. When wasted food is thrown away it breaks down in landfill and together with other organic materials it becomes the main contributor to the production of methane - a gas 25 times more powerful than carbon dioxide is at trapping heat in the atmosphere. If we could reduce food waste by 66 % the greenhouse gas savings would be equivalent to taking 117,000 cars permanently off the road in NSW.

And it's not just the waste of food we should consider, it's the waste of all the resources which went into producing the food in the first place: Soil, water and energy are all needed to produce, transport, process, package, distribute and store these food products."

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