Food waste is a significant environmental, social and economic issue not just for the United States but also to the entire globe. Although food waste was determined as a serious concern, it was not recognized as a considerable issue to the environment until lately. Among environmentally important activities, the production, trade, and utilization of food substances have been recognized as significant givers to various environmental challenges (Sadef, Nizami, Batool, Chaudary, Ouda, Asam, & Demirbas, 2016) . Global warming and climatic changes have threatened the world. The report by Li, Jin, Borrion, Li, and Li (2017) reveal that 20 percent of emissions that cause climatic changes are linked to the production, processing, packaging, transporting and storing of food products. Food wastes from agriculture inhibit a sustainable system because of greenhouse gas emissions to the environment.
Three Pillars of Food Security and the Triple Bottom Line
Triple bottom line (TBL) is a multifaceted approach to sustainability where environmental, social and economic aspects are recognized and contemplated together to make decisions about food security. It is envisioned that triple bottom line sustainability can amount to the management of all food products in such a manner that economic, social and aesthetic essentials are satisfied while preserving cultural honesty, vital ecological practices, biological variety, and life support structures (Sadef et al., 2016). Simply put, to ensure sustainability in terms of food security, efforts should be put to meet environmental, social and economic objectives. Each of these aspects should be examined in a balanced manner while managing food resources. It is significant to realize how short- and long-term economic advantages can be derived from adopting constructive social and environmental actions (Thi, Kumar, & Lin, 2015). In essence, this regards to managing food resources to achieve many benefits that can extend even to the next generation, and at the same time excluding or properly managing any negative effects.
Delegate your assignment to our experts and they will do the rest.
800 million individuals in the developing regions globally presently encounter food insecurity (Bellemare, Cakir, Peterson, Novak, & Rudi, 2017). It is challenging to meet the food as well as nutritional requirements of this population, and the problem is aggravated in the coming years. Population expansion, urbanization and the inadequate possibility for heightening production through the broadening of the cultivated regions indicate that for food requirements to be fulfilled in the future, food produce generated have to multiply and at the same time wastes eliminated. As long as agricultural research and development are intensified, new varieties with increased yields and heightened tolerance to hostile environmental, settings will be produced that eliminate food wastes (Li et al., 2017). In spite of agricultural growth and development, there exists an unexploited source of agricultural growth in various regions of the world, which have not been tapped yet.
The three major constituents or pillars of food security will include food availability or sufficient food creation; economic obtainability of food resources; as well as nutritional security. These pillars are also dependent on the available nonfood resources like childcare, healthcare, clean water, and hygiene (Tampio, Ervasti, & Rintala, 2015). Individuals must be committed to supply all three constituents that are significant to attain food security in developing nations. Individuals must demonstrate tenacity to produce more food resources and regulate food wastes amidst massive social, cultural and economic restraints.
Pros and Cons of Food Wastes
Food waste is not just an environmental issue but is also evident that is a representation of the unequal resource utilization in which several nations are enjoying abundance and also discard food wastes when other sections of the world are deficient in resources and experience hunger. This indicates that the aspect of food wastes can be viewed as an evidence of the global social inequalities that occur. The problem is complicated since there can be different political, economic and social elements that together influence getting food like shortages, poverty, and wars (Bellemare et al., 2017). Reducing food wastes in the nation does not evidently amount to more food on the impoverished people, but leads to redeeming restrained and limited resources that are required for food production in an indirect manner.
Actionable Steps
The cost of discarding food as wastes is not portrayed to the public and thus the concern is not capturing the attention of many. The systems where various players in the supply chain pay heavily for producing meals irrespective of the food that is eaten or discarded. The deficient visible economic profit that can be seen by the public or saving when bringing down food wastes could be the basis for not dealing with the matter (Tampio, Ervasti, & Rintala, 2015). Compelling players in the agricultural sector through policy regulation to save money by monitoring the number of food wastes could solve this. In addition, today, a comparatively small share of individuals’ budget goes to food, which brings the likelihood of discarding food wastes easily. The food is cheaply acquired, thus not much pain us felt when it is thrown away (Li et al., 2017). Therefore, our attitudes towards food should be enhanced so that we hold food with much value and understand that some people are in lack. Creation of awareness of the need to preserve food is significant as well as nurturing competence to incorporate routines into our system that can inhibit and regulate food wastes.
The way to strengthen the pillars of food security is through creating progressive policies and programs that enhance people’s abilities and resources to satisfy their roles in food production. Equal distribution of current resources between people can enhance food security without allowing for food wastes, but even increased production can be attained by reacting to particular challenges that farmers face (Thi, Kumar, & Lin, 2015). By eliminating these limitations and stabilizing the agricultural playing field as policies and programs will significantly amount to fulfilling global food requirements and suddenly bring down the figures of malnourished and food insecure individuals in developing nations.
Conclusion
There are many negative impacts of food wastes and it is not a good practice to throw away foods. It presses on the economy of a nation. It is significant to value food wastes in monetary worth so that the problem can be put into context, which suggests the place of economic motivations to bring down the level of wastes. Creation of awareness and knowledge will amount to changed attitudes toward the value of foods. Even if the foods are bought cheaply, it should be highly valued and thus ways of affecting wasteful behavior can be adopted. Policies to regulate food wastes by the actors in the agricultural sectors should be instituted and followed carefully. Therefore, food wastes should be avoided as they inhibit a sustainable system.
References
Bellemare, M., Çakir, M., Peterson, H., Novak, L., & Rudi, J. (2017). On the Measurement of Food Waste. American Journal of Agricultural Economics, 99(5), 1148-1158.
Li, Y., Jin, Y., Borrion, A., Li, H., & Li, J. (2017). Effects of organic composition on mesophilic anaerobic digestion of food waste. Bioresource Technology, 244(P1), 213-224.
Sadef, Y., Nizami, A. S., Batool, S. A., Chaudary, M. N., Ouda, O. K. M., Asam, Z. Z., & Demirbas, A. (2016). Waste-to-energy and recycling value for developing integrated solid waste management plan in Lahore. Energy Sources, Part B: Economics, Planning, and Policy , 11 (7), 569-579.
Thi, N. B. D., Kumar, G., & Lin, C. Y. (2015). An overview of food waste management in developing countries: current status and future perspective. Journal of environmental management , 157 , 220-229.
Tampio, Ervasti, & Rintala. (2015). Characteristics and agronomic usability of digestates from laboratory digesters treating food waste and autoclaved food waste. Journal of Cleaner Production, 94(C), 86-92.
