No food to waste
- Simone Maas
- 5 mrt 2016
- 3 minuten om te lezen
Food waste has got to be one of those subject that we all know about. We know it is a thing, but I don’t think you really realize the seriousness of the situation until you have seen the actual statistics. According to a recent report by UNEP and the World Resources Institute, about one-third of all food produced worldwide gets wasted or even lost in the food production and consumption systems. When you apply this to the calories in the food, about 1 in 4 calories is never actually eaten. I bet you are at least surprised right now. Luckily more and more initiatives are rising from the ground to combat this global problem.
What is it?
The beginning of this year a new supermarket opened its doors in Denmark. The supermarket is named ‘WeFood’ and goes by the slogan ‘Less food waste - more profits for the world's poorest’. Inside you can buy your groceries with discounts up to 50 percent off the original price. What is the catch, you are probably wondering? Every single product that they sell is near or past the expiration date, has a damaged packaging or has got a wrong label on it. This initiative came from the Danish ‘Food Bank’. The food waste in Denmark is above average and something needed to change. With ‘WeFood’ they are concurring to problems: food that otherwise would be thrown away can still be sold, and people with lower income are offered a cheaper alternative for their everyday groceries.
Why is it cool?
More and more data are accessible for the public. We as ‘normal people’ can look up information that was hidden only a few years ago. As a result of that we get a more critical view when it comes to governments and multinationals. They are no longer superior to us because their mistakes are all over the media. Big scandals in different fields are getting more attention than ever before. When I enter ‘Food waste’ in the Google search bar it gets over 38.5 million hits.
Some individuals try to protest against this problem by dumpster diving. UNRIC wrote an article about this subject and interviewed a certain Laurence Ashmore. She said to them: ‘I absolutely hate wasting food. Sometimes, you won’t believe what you can find in these dumpsters”. Other individuals set up their own business around wasted food. For example, Sander-Jan Baks prepares to-go-meals in the middle of a supermarket using ingredients that would otherwise be thrown away. For little money he sells those to costumers who are walking by.
Ofcourse ‘WeFood’ is a bigger project than dumpster diving or cooking some meals, but they all show the same change in mentality. In a world where transparency turns scandals of big companies into general knowledge, some people take action. They no longer trust the multinationals to handle the global problems. Individuals and small organisations set up initiatives that actually fight these problems, step by step. The only thing that we have control over is how we act. We can choose to not throw away a bruised banana. We can choose to go for a near to date product when grocery shopping. Hopefully when more and more people go on to make conscious choices, bigger organisations will follow their lead.
What sources did I use?
http://media.npr.org/assets/img/2016/02/26/wefood2_custom-66c19e4828bed0a608cd34cf1267e0b424ed1e17-s900-c85.jpg (afbeelding 2)
Always wonder,
Simone
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