The U.S. Pledged to Halve Food Waste—We’re Nowhere Close

In September 2015, the United States set an ambitious goal to reduce its food loss and 50 percent of the waste. The idea was to reduce the amount of food that ended in the landfills, where it emitted Greenhouse Since it is decomposed, climate change is one of the main reasons for contributing.

Researchers in UC Davis have seen state policies across the country and assume that each state can reduce food waste in 2022. They have found that no state is on the path to reducing national waste, except for further work at the federal level. Goal

Researchers have calculated that even when taking reduction measures, the United States still produces about 328 pounds of food waste per annual – how much waste was made per person in 2016, after the EPA and the US Department of Agriculture. Announced the goal of cutting waste.

These statistics indicate that our best strategies for eliminating waste are not enough to meet our goals, Sarah Kakadelis, the main author of the study says In nature This month

To evaluate how the United States is doing to meet its food waste reduction goals, both Caccadelis and its team have used both universally available data (from refed, a non -profit By observing food waste in the United States) And estimate based on the landscape of the current policy.

Lori Leonard, chairman of the Global Development Department at Colonel University, said the results of the research were “amazing” due to the absence of federal policy that controlled food waste. “People are trying to do what they can do at the state and municipal level,” he said. “But we need national leadership in this regard.”

Cuckdeles suggest that customers have to move forward to change the way customers think about specific waste management techniques like composting.

Commosting turns organic material, such as scrap of food, in a nutrient-rich mixture that can be used to fertilize new plants and crops. It can be considered as a form of “recycling” food, although its last product cannot be eaten technically. This important detail means that consumers must learn to look at composting, despite its potential environmental benefits, as food waste, Kakadelis says.

“It’s really thinking about the best use of food, which eat it,” he said.

Although it has been considered as a great alternative to your molding banana in the trash, composting is actually classified as food waste by the United Nations and the European Union. In 2021, EPA has updated its definition of food waste to include composting and annerobic digestion – both can take input -like foods and turn into fertilizer or biogas respectively.

To update its guidelines, EPA has released a food waste classification – which shows that the best way to reduce food waste is to prevent it. It includes things to add to the right date-leaf, so that consumers will not be confused about buying something bad or are no longer safe to eat. It is also desirable to find another usage for non-consumed or inedible foods-such as donating it to the food bank or consolidating it to livestock, where it can be used to nurture cattle (assumes that livestock will finally feed people).

Composting will always play a role in removing food waste from landfills – because these operations can take ruined or rotten foods, such as food banks cannot. “It is a/or nine. They have to leave their hands in their hands,” said Kakadelis. “But we’re avoiding all these other steps and we are often going directly to recycled.”

Leonard agrees that the country’s broad, complex food systems indicate high expenditure associated with ensuring properly operating: from the farm from which the crop is harvested from the truck and cold storage that manages the packaged products. “There is a lot of energy that has gone into that food production,” he said. “We don’t do that to create compost. You know, we do this to feed people. “

Composting, of course, serves multiple objectives and has environmental benefits beyond food loss and waste reduction. For example, it re -fills the soil. But Leonard note that if more work is done towards resistance – for example, the farms are not producing excess food – then the soil will not be so eroded in the first place and will not require so much remedy.

Both Leonard and Cuckleys emphasize that no equipment should be out of the table to avoid sending food to landfills. Leonard, who previously worked with the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation, once studied biological sanctions in other states.

“I asked them that they were encouraging business or families to proceed to EPA classification and find better use for their food scrap? And they said, “No, no.” All we really are trying to do is let people do something on the hierarchy. ”That includes composting.

Unless there is more option for pre-and subsequent consumer food waste, composting can be the best, the most accessible option for many people. “This is the easiest thing to do,” Leonard said. “And it is probably the safest thing to do until we have a better protocol.”

This article originally appeared Greek This https://grist.org/food-and-agriculture/the-us-wants-cut-food-waste-in-welf-were-not-even-close/. Great is a non -profit, independent media company that is dedicated to climate solutions and fair future stories. Learn more at this Grist.org