Why Is Food Waste - A Global Issue?

Every day lots of food waste is generated at every household, restaurants, and food industries all around the world. When we dump these scraps on open landscapes, then it creates pollution in the surroundings. Also, it has various negative impacts on the environment.

Let’s understand the global impacts of food waste that makes it a global concern:

Wastage of water sources

We have limited sources of clean drinkable water on our earth. And, it takes a lot of water to grow healthier crops in agricultural land. And, we ultimately use groundwater sources or irrigation techniques for it. Do you know that it requires 52.8 million gallons of water per second to produce enough food for the sustainability of the global population? Yes, it does require that much water. However, lots of water gets wasted when the food is left uneaten by us. This then reduces the water sources as well as contributes to pollution.

Cutting down of forests

We need to cut down a number of trees to carry out agricultural activities on a particular land area. As a result, the empty land areas increase the pollution levels in the atmosphere. This is because forest areas used to keep the surroundings cooler. Also, the trees balance the proportions of gases present in the atmosphere. Consequently, it keeps the balance in the ecosystem. So, nonetheless, the cutting down of forests increases the global pollution levels.

Dangers to birds & animal species

Whenever we produce foodstuffs in agricultural land, we cut down the trees for plantation activities. In other words, agricultural land is created by cutting ancient woodlands. And, the researches say that 28% of the world’s agricultural areas are utilized for the foodstuff that gets wasted otherwise. This has negative impacts on the ecosystem. As a result of this, we sacrifice the nests and habitats of many wild species & animals. And, consequently, it disturbs the natural ecological balance.

Risks to human health

The methane gas, emitting from the open decomposition of food affects the ozone layer present in the earth’s atmosphere. This layer protects us from the harmful rays of the sun. So, when it breaks, then we have to face health hazards like skin cancers, eye cataracts, immune deficiency disorders, etc. Also, the people working in the dump yards can face problems like skin irritations, infections, allergies because of handling stagnant wet scraps.

Rising global temperatures

Food scraps, when thrown on open spaces, emit harmful methane into the air. It is a powerful greenhouse gas that then raises the temperatures globally. As a result, the overall temperature of the earth’s atmosphere gradually starts to increase. The negative impacts of it are uneven rainfall patterns, wildfires, melting of glaciers, water scarcity situations, and so on. Eventually, it results in global climate change.

Conclusion:

As we can see, the food waste problem is very serious and can create many dangers for living beings & planets. Therefore, we should dispose of these scraps in the right manner so as to avoid the negative impacts of it. So, you can compost your food scraps as it is the most healthy solution for disposal.

One can go for conventional ways or can also install fully automatic composting machine-like Goldust on the premises. This machine recycles the wet scrap volumes and produces useful manure. You can use this nutrient-dense manure to promote the effective growth of plants. The machine converts 85-90% of total organic waste into rich manure. One can remove the manure in every 8-10 days.

You  can visit the website of LAHS Eco Engineering to learn more about food waste management.