Food Waste factsby Arushi Madan | 01-05-2013 03:38 |
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![]() ![]() Food waste is a major issue today. The impact of food waste is not just financial. Environmentally, food waste leads to wasteful use of chemicals such as fertilizers and pesticides more fuel used for transportation and more rotting food, creating more methane – one of the most harmful greenhouse gases that contributes to climate change. Methane is 23 times more potent than CO2 as a greenhouse gas. The vast amount of food going to landfills makes a significant contribution to global warming. For food to compost properly , it needs light and air. In the landfill it has neither. Instead, food devoid of light and air produces methane gas , which contributes to global warming. The Department of Agriculture estimated in 1996 that recovering just 5 percent of the food that is wasted could feed four million people a day recovering 25 percent would feed 20 million people. Today we recover less than 2.5 percent. |