Wasted food is one of the greatest economic and environmental problems in the world today. According to a United Nations study, one-third of the world’s food winds up spoiled, rotting in fields, or is thrown away. This amounts to 1.3 billion tons of food wasted annually while at the same time nearly 900 million people around the world go hungry every day.
Food that is produced but not eaten uses up a volume of water equal to the annual flow of Russia’s Volga River and adds over 3 billion tons of greenhouse gases to the atmosphere. Approximately 28% of the world’s agricultural land is used to produce food that isn’t eaten.
Seoul, South Korea has instituted a concerted effort to reduce the amount of food that is wasted in that city. Residents have to deposit their food waste in special bins whose contents are tracked by hi-tech systems. Waste too much food and you have to pay a fee.
Leftover food in Seoul is transported to special facilities that either turn it into animal feed or fertilizer, or burn it to generate electricity. The various programs have reduced household food waste by 30% and restaurant food waste by 40%. The goal is not only to dramatically reduce food waste, but also to keep the remaining leftover food out of landfills where it can decay and emit methane, a potent greenhouse gas.
Food waste is a global problem that causes economic losses of over $700 billion a year. It is essential that we develop innovative solutions and South Korea is one place where they are making progress.
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In South Korea, An Innovative Push to Cut Back on Food Waste
Photo, posted March 22, 2009, courtesy of Nick Saltmarsh via Flickr.
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Earth Wise is a production of WAMC Northeast Public Radio.