Food waste contributes to green-house gases

Wasting food has the obvious consequence of waste of money and waste of food. But what is less obvious is that it also contributes towards green house gas emissions. The production of food, especially in western countries, contributes to a significant amount of CO2 in the air.

Here is a blog post on waste of food/grocery shopping: http://blog.heaps.co.nz/how-to/budget-how-to/buying-in-bulk/

When people throw out between 20%-40% of their food (figures are typical of western countries) there is all that extra CO2 in the air that really does not need to be there.

Besides the production of food, there is also the actual spoiling of food. When food is disposed of it goes into landfills, and the spoiling process contributes to the emission of methane, which is an even stronger green house gas than CO2 (25 fold).

In the UK, food production contributes to about 20% of total green house gas emissions. I would not be surprised if the figure in New Zealand is close. Not to mention the cost of transporting food, food that will only end up being wasted.

So before going out to purchse large quantities of any type of food (specifically perishable foods), it is important to do a lot of planning, and not buy on impulse. The way we buy and consume our food can lead to a brighter, greener New Zealand (and world).

Cheers,

Wahid