A Growing Problem: Resource Depletion

This figure represents 27 percent of all edible food available in the United States. Furthermore, the USDA estimated that if just five percent of retail, consumer, and food service food losses were recovered (instead of discarded as solid waste), it would provide one day's food for 4 million people…" (Sherman).

Food waste is a growing issue in contemporary society and has many impacts on the global environment. These impacts include resources used in the production and distribution of food, resources and impacts associated with the disposal of food waste, and the production of compost.

There are many more resources 'wasted' when unused food is discarded besides the food itself. All the resources that contributed to the production and movement of the food product must also be taken into consideration. For example, there are many natural resources used in the production of a piece of IslandWood pizza.

All of the ingredients used to make the pizza are transported on trucks from farms to warehouses, where some of them are stored in refrigerated areas, before being trucked to IslandWood. The water used in the pizza comes from a local well and is transported through pipes. The tomato sauce is the only locally grown organic ingredient, pesticides and longer transports are used for all of the other ingredients. However, all of the ingredients required sunlight, soil, water, air, planting and harvesting machinery, and human time and energy to grow and be harvested. Furthermore, all of the ingredients come packaged, either in wax paper, brown paper, cardboard, plastic, or tin. Mostl of these packaging materials are made from non-renewable natural resources.

Once the ingredients arrive at IslandWood, it takes two chefs, measuring tools, a Hobart mixer and bowl, a plastic bin, pans, rolling pins, a cutting board, a rolling cutter, a propane convection oven, and time to make the pizza. The electricity used to power the kitchen appliances is from Puget Sound Energy, which is a hydroelectric plant (Petrick). As can be seen with this example, numerous natural resources such as water, sunlight, soil, air, oil, natural gas, trees, and metal were used in the manufacturing of a piece of IslandWood pizza. It is mind boggling to consider how many hidden resources are wasted with the amount of food waste generated globally each day.

The impacts of food waste disposal must also be taken into consideration. As with the production and transportation of food, there are many hidden resources and environmental impacts associated with the disposal of food waste. The options for the disposal of food waste include garbage disposals, landfills, incinerators, and composting. Each of these options has its own impacts on the environment.

Garbage disposals run on electricity, generated by water, wind, solar, nuclear, or the burning of fossil fuels. Waste from garbage disposals is flushed with water and is either transported through pipes to waste water treatment plants, which filter the water and re-release it into the environment, or deposited into a home septic system. Food waste flushed down garbage disposals contributes to increased levels of biological oxygen demand (BOD), chemical oxygen demand (COD), total suspended solids, oil, and grease at wastewater treatment plants (Sherman). BOD and COD use up dissolved oxygen, threatening the survival of aquatic life in areas where the water is re-released.

Landfills are increasingly becoming a global issue as population continues to expand and land is becoming scarcer. Landfills not only take up space, destroying natural habitats, but they also contribute to air and water pollution. The anaerobic breakdown of organic material, such as food waste, in landfills produces methane, a greenhouse gas. Furthermore, landfills leach toxic materials and increase BOD and COD levels that can infect groundwater.

Incinerators are used to burn waste in order to alleviate problems associated with waste volume. For example, Japan burns much of its waste due to limited landfill space (Fujiki). However, incinerators also take up space, are expensive to operate, and produce dioxin, toxic gases, and toxic ash. Dioxin is a toxic chemical that bioaccumulates, causing disease in both animals and humans. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency listed municipal solid waste incineration as "the largest source…of dioxin emissions to air in 1995" (The American People's Dioxin Report). Furthermore, dioxin is being distributed onto the land through incinerator ash, which is highly contaminated with dioxin and metals, as it is used as landfill cover and in road and construction projects (The American People's Dioxin Report).

Composting, the breakdown of organic material into soil by macro and microorganisms, is another alternative to food waste disposal. Yet even composting has negative environmental impacts. Composting facilities require space, management, and a means of transporting both food waste and finished compost. Furthermore, most composting facilities only compost plant materials, as cooked food and meat products attract pests and create unappealing odors. However, the negatvie impacts of composting can be reduced with the usage of local composting units.

As can be seen, there are no easy solutions for the disposal of food waste. However, the most environmentally conscious food waste disposal technique to date is composting. Diverting food waste to composting facilities decreases the amount of waste discarded in waterways, landfills, and incinerators, and also produces a usable product. Compost can be used to enrich agricultural soils, reducing the amount of fertilizer and water used in the production of crops by slowly releasing nutrients and increasing the water holding capacity of soils. Compost can also be used to "facilitate reforestation, wetlands restoration, and wildlife habitat revitalization efforts by amending contaminated, compacted and marginal soils" (Rissee). Therefore, composting helps minimize the environmental impacts of food waste disposal by transforming food waste into a usable product.

Works Cited

Miller, Chaz. "Profiles in Garbage: Food Waste." Waste Age, Oct 1, 2002. http://wasteage.com/ar/waste_food_waste

Petrick, Joseph. "The Pizza Project." Fall Semester Final Project, IslandWood Graduate Program. (unpublished document)

Risse, Mark and Faucett, Britt. "Food Waste Composting, Institutional and Industrial Applications." http://www.ces.uga.edu/pubcd/B1189.htm

Sherman, Rhonda. "Water Quality and Waste Management, Food Recovery and Waste Reduction: A Guide for Businesses and Institutions." North Carolina Cooperative Extension Service. 1998. http://www.p2pays.org/ref/02/01388.pdf

"The American People's Dioxin Report."
http://www.besafenet.com/report.html