The examples and perspective in this article deal primarily with the United Kingdom and do not represent a worldwide view of the subject. Please improve this article and discuss the issue on the talk page.

Packaged food aisles of supermarket in Portland, Oregon

Food waste is "any food substance, raw or cooked, which is discarded, or intended or required to be discarded", according to the legal definition of waste by the EU Commission.^[1][2] Since there are several definitions of waste, equally many definitions of food waste exist; professional bodies, including international organizations, state governments and secretariats may formally have their own defintions.^[3]

[edit] Definition

The European Commission (headquarters pictured) provides one definition of waste, and therefore what constitutes food waste, but many others exist

The definition of waste is a contended subject, often defined on a situational basis, so it follows that food waste is the same;^[4] professional bodies, including international organizations, state governments and secretariats may formally have their own definitions.^[3]

In 1975, the European Commission, the executive branch of the European Union, legally defined waste for countries in the Union as: "any substance or object which the holder disposes of or is required to dispose of pursuant to the provisions of national law in force".^[2] This directive (75/442/EEC) was amended in 1991 (by 91/156), with the addition of "categories of waste" (Annex I) and the omission of any reference to national law.^[5] Annex I categorises types of waste by how they occur, and some categories appear specific to certain waste types; "Products whose date for appropriate use has expired" targets food waste, with "date" referring to the expiry date of a food.

The United States Environmental Protection Agency defines food waste for the United States as being: "Uneaten food and food preparation wastes from residences and commercial establishments such as grocery stores, restaurants, and produce stands, institutional cafeterias and kitchens, and industrial sources like employee lunchrooms".^[6] Although it is a nation-wide agency, states are free to define food waste individually, according to policies, preference and other definitions,^[7][8] though many choose not to.^[9]

Overall, the definition of food waste can vary in many ways, including, but not limited to: what food waste consists of,^[10] how food waste is produced,^[6] and where/what it is discarded from/generated by.^[10] The definition can be varied and complicated by other issues; certain groups do not consider (or have traditionally not considered) food waste to be a waste material, due to its applications;^[7][11] some definitions of what food waste consists of are based on other waste definitions (e.g. agricultural waste), and which materials do not meet their definitions.^[9]

[edit] Sources

[edit] Food production

In developing and developed countries who operate either commercial or industrial agriculture, food waste can occur at most stages of the food industry and in significant amounts.^[12] In subsistence agriculture, the amounts of food waste are unknown but likely to be insignificant by comparison, due to the limited stages at which waste can occur, and given that food is grown for projected need as opposed to a global marketplace demand.^[13][14]

Severe or extreme weather can cause losses of crop for all forms of outdoor agriculture

Research into the food industry of the United States, whose food supply is the most diverse and abundant of any country in the world, found food waste occuring at the beginning of food production.^[12] From planting, crops can be subjected to pest infestations and severe weather,^[15][16] which cause losses before harvest.^[12] Since natural forces (e.g. temperature and precipitation) remain the primary drivers of crop growth, losses from these can be experienced by all forms of outdoor agriculture.^[17] The use of machinery in harvesting can cause waste, as harvesters may be unable to discern between ripe and immature crops, or collect only part of a crop.^[12] Economic factors, such as regulations and standards for quality and appearance,^[18] also cause food waste; farmers often harvest selectively, preferring to leave crops not to standard in the field (where they can be used as fertilizer or animal feed), since they would otherwise be discarded later.^[12]

[edit] Food processing

Food waste continues postharvest with , but the amounts of postharvest loss involved are relatively unknown and difficult to estimate.^[19] Regardless, the variety of factors that contribute to food waste, both biological/environmental and socio-economical, would limit the usefulness and reliability of general figures.^[19][20] In storage, considerable quantitative losses can be attributed to pests and microorganisms.^[21] This is a particular problem for countries that experience a combination of heat (around 30°C) and ambient humidity (between 70 and 90 percent), as such conditions encourage the reproduction of insect pests and microorganisms.^[22] Losses in the nutritional value, caloric value and edibility of crops, by extremes of temperature, humidity or the action of microorganisms,^[23] also account for food waste;^[24][25] these "qualitative losses" are more difficult to assess than quantitative ones.^[26] Further losses are generated in the handling of food and by shrinkage in weight or volume.^[12][27]

Some of the food waste produced by processing can be difficult to reduce without affecting the quality of the finished product.^[28] Food safety regulations are able to claim foods which contradict standards before they reaches markets.^[29] Although this can conflict with efforts to reuse food waste (such as in animal feed),^[30] safety regulations are in place to ensure the health of the consumer; they are vitally important, especially in the processing of foodstuffs of animal origin (e.g. meat and dairy products), as contaminated products from these sources can lead to and are associated with microbiological and chemical hazards.^[31][32]

[edit] Retail

Packaging protects food from damage during its transportation from farms and factories via warehouses to retailing, as well as preserving its freshness upon arrival,^[33]. Although it avoids considerable food waste.^[33][34], packaging can compromise efforts to reduce food waste in other ways, such as by contaminating waste that could be used for animal feedstocks.^[35]

[edit] Impact

Food waste can have a dramatically varied impact, depending on the amount produced and how it is dealt with; in some countries the amount of food waste is negligible and has little impact. In countries such as the US and the UK however, the social, economic and environmental impact of food wastage is enormous.

In the UK, 6.7 million tonnes per year of wasted food (purchased and edible food which is discarded) amounts to a cost of £10.2 billion each year. This translates a cost of £250 to £400 a year for every British household.^[36]

The per capita annual food waste output in North America in 1918 was estimated as 100-200 pounds,^[37] with the largest source from domestic properties, although that may have little relevance today.

A study by the University of Arizona in 2004, indicated that 14-15 per cent of US edible food is untouched or unopened, amounting to $43 billion worth of discarded, but edible, food.^[38]

[edit] Response

Response to the problem of food waste at all social levels has varied hugely.

[edit] Prevention

One way of dealing with food waste is to reduce its creation. This attitude has been promoted by campaigns from advisory and environmental groups,^[39] and by concentrated media attention on the subject.^[36][40]

Consumers can reduce their food waste output at point-of-purchase and in their home by adopting some simple measures; planning when shopping for food is important, spontaneous purchases are shown as often the most wasteful; proper knowledge of food storage reduces foods becoming inedible and thrown away.^[39]

Limiting food wastage has seen the adoption of former WWI and II slogans by anti-waste groups such as Wrap^[36]

[edit] Collection

In areas where waste collection is a public function, food waste is usually managed by the same governmental organization as other waste collection. Most food waste is combined with general waste at the source. Separate collections have the advantage that food wastes can be disposed of in ways not applicable to other wastes.

From the end of the 19th century through the middle of the twentieth century, many municipalities collected food waste (called "garbage" as opposed to "trash") separately. This was typically disinfected by steaming and fed to pigs, either on private farms or in municipal piggeries.^[41]

Separate kerbside collection of food waste is now being revived in some areas. To keep collection costs down and raise the rate of food waste segregation, some local authorities, especially in Europe, have introduced "alternate weekly collections" of biodegradable waste (including e.g. garden waste), which enable a wider range of recyclable materials to be collected at reasonable cost, and improve their collection rates. However, they result in a two week wait before the waste will be collected. So there is criticism that, particularly during hot weather, food waste rots and stinks, and attracts vermin.

Much kitchen waste also leaves the home through garbage disposal units.

[edit] Disposal

Like other waste, food waste can be dumped, but food waste can also be fed to animals (typically swine), or it can be biodegraded by composting or anaerobic digestion, and reused to enrich soil. Skip Shapiro Enterprises LLC processes beverage and nonmeat food waste at more than forty locations in North America.

Dumping food waste in a landfill causes environmental damage. By volume, it is the largest contributor to methane gas production.^[42] It causes odour as it decomposes, attracts flies and vermin, and has the potential to add biological Oxygen Demand (BOD) to the leachate. The EU Landfill Directive and Waste Regulations, like regulations in other countries, enjoin diverting organic wastes away from landfill disposal for these reasons.

Food waste can be composted at home, avoiding central collection entirely, and many local authorities have schemes to provide subsidised composting bin systems. However, the proportion of the population willing to dispose of their food waste in that way may be limited.

Anaerobic digestion produces both useful gaseous products and a solid fibrous "compostable" material. Anaerobic digestion plants can provide energy from waste by burning the methane created from food and other organic wastes to generate electricity, defraying the plant's costs and reducing greenhouse gas emissions.

Food waste coming through the sanitary sewers from garbage disposal units is treated along with other sewage and contributes to sludge.

[edit] See also

• Food waste in New Zealand
• Food waste in the United Kingdom
• Food waste in the United States
• List of waste types
• Anaerobic Digestion

[edit] References

References

Bibliography

[edit] Further reading

• LeGood, Paul; Andrew Clarke (November 2006) (PDF). Smart and Active Packaging to Reduce Food Waste. pp. 32. http://amf.globalwatchonline.com/epicentric_portal/binary/com.epicentric.contentmanagement.servlet.ContentDeliveryServlet/AMF/smartmat/Smartandactivepackagingtoreducefoodwaste.pdf. Retrieved 2009-04-28. 
• Stuart, Tristram (2009). Waste: Uncovering the Global Food Scandal: The True Cost of What the Global Food Industry Throws Away. Penguin. ISBN 0141036346. 
• Willand, Lois Carlson (1979). The Use-It-Up Cookbook: A Guide for Minimizing Food Waste. Practical Cookbooks. ISBN 0961455608. 

[edit] External links

• Stop Wasting Food movement - a Danish non-profit consumer movement that fights against food waste