In my recent OpEd with Michael Webber, we discuss the energy embedded in food waste–which accounts for at least 2% of the nation’s energy budget. We point out some ways to waste less such as reducing standard portion sizes and providing the right incentives for businesses, but acknowledge that ultimately, it comes down to consumer choices:
Foremost, the public needs to be better educated about proper storage of foods to keep them edible for longer. Shoppers could be supplied with easy-to-digest, accurate information about the proper shelf life of products, so that they are able to plan meals more carefully and end up with less spoilt food at the end of the week.
Another problem is “use by” dates, which are extremely conservative and can encourage consumers to throw away perfectly edible food. Similarly, “sell by” dates are usually meant as guidelines for retailers to ensure they do not keep stock too long, not as guidance to consumers about when the food will spoil. We need to improve the way we label foods.
Initiatives targeted at consumers could also have ripple-out effects: not only will educating people about food waste reduce pressure on their wallets, it would also lead to fewer trips to the store, saving on gasoline and reducing carbon emissions. Most important, it would help to promote a culture that places a higher value on food, energy, and the way their complex relationship affects us all.
But tackling this issue will be very tricky. Consider: Everyday bakeries throw out day old goods, catering companies dump excess meals, supermarkets do away with blemished fruits, and that’s just the tip of the iceberg…
I’ve long been a firm believer in the power of personal choice and am curious to hear your ideas. How might we shift public attitudes to be less wasteful and save energy on a massive scale?
August 16th, 2010 at 11:11 am
The only effective means of changing peoples’ behavior en masse, is through the media and the media is in the hands of corporate hacks.
Reinstitute the Fairness Doctrine, community service requirements, ownership diversity requirements. Make it easier for people and organizations who are lied about in the media to seek effective redress (with punishment for those who bring frivolous or false complaints). It took a long time to make the yellow journalism of the 19th and early 20th centuries be considered as garbage. Though it was never really suppressed it wasn’t what led the public discourse as it has since Murdoch was imported to do exactly that. The press has turned into a danger to representative democracy and that wasn’t unintended.
August 16th, 2010 at 4:04 pm
Culture may be useful in convincing people to treat it as more scarce/valuable than they have historically, but it is not the most simple way to deal with this problem. Food has a massive amount of subsidies that is currently making artificially cheap. Simply getting rid of food subsidies might be enough, and if there is still a problem, institute a Pigouvian tax. I don’t personally think food or energy waste is a big deal. Agricultural technology has been expanding at an incredible rate over the last century, and I don’t see any signs of it slowing down.
August 16th, 2010 at 4:06 pm
A price on carbon should make food more expensive, which will incentivize people to be smarter with it.
August 16th, 2010 at 10:38 pm
A while ago in a NY Times article (darned if I can find the reference now -sorry), Michael Pollan stated that back before WWII, a major fraction of the US population got their vegetables from their very own gardens, not the grocery store. I’d like to see that come back. When you grow your own – put your time and energy into it – it changes your perspective about waste and recycling. I’m sure it will increase home composting and recycling awareness. It also reduces transportation costs. This may not be just a pipe dream either: recently the city of Cleveland has been tearing up blocks of abandoned, wrecked houses and creating community gardens, going so far as to even teach folks how to garden.
BTW on the subject of food in the US, I highly recommend anything Michael Pollan has written – books, articles, anything.
August 17th, 2010 at 12:44 am
The whole point of our civilization is that I do not have to grow my own food or eat bread that is not fresh. Your project is doomed to failure.
August 17th, 2010 at 1:06 am
I’ve commented on this a couple of ways:
FINALLY! Some sense about the “sell-by” date
and also this:
Food waste pickup in the city
Change public attitudes? Participate, and spread the word. And Franchise good ideas!
August 17th, 2010 at 5:35 am
My local supermarket doesn’t throw away its day old bakery items. It simply packages them up in bundles and sells these at a cheap price. As supermarket companies are not charities there will be some sort of trade-off between selling off the day old bakery items cheaply (if this affects the sale of the higher priced fresh items) and simply throwing them away.
August 17th, 2010 at 9:02 am
The whole point of our civilization is that I do not have to grow my own food or eat bread that is not fresh.
I think that in France and other european countries, eating fresh bread IS being civilized. Are you implying that the U.S. wasn’t civilized before WWII because a lot of folks grew their own food?
August 18th, 2010 at 8:09 am
Hi Sheril,
That’s definitely the golden question! I posted some ideas over at Age of Engagement. Let me know what you think. I will have a follow up post later today on a new study out.
http://bigthink.com/ideas/22888
August 18th, 2010 at 11:22 pm
Teach best practices to kids in school – the younger the better. Two benefits:
1. They will bring it home to their parents and coach them. Kids cut through the cloud of a parents busy day better than any news show.
2. They will grow up doing it naturally. It takes a few years for them to reach adulthood, but item one covers things in the short term.
Some examples: Recycling. Kids kick-started that revolution back in the 70′s. Other examples – kids are great at coaching parents on things like wearing seat belts, not smoking, etc.
Jay Kimball
8020vision.com
August 20th, 2010 at 6:12 am
[...] topic of energy lost in food waste. In her Discover blog, Sheril Kirshenbaum asks ‘how do we change attitudes and behavior on waste?’ Well, I hope it starts with a [...]