Global Food Waste

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Reducing the amount of global food waste is essential. Using examples, discuss the main solutions to this problem.

There has been increasing concern about food waste in recent years. As the global population is rising fast, reducing the amount of global food waste has become essential to make sure everyone will have enough sustenance to survive. According to Institution of Mechanical Engineers (2013), it is estimated that 30-50% (1.2-2 billion tonnes) of all food produced worldwide is discarded before reaching a human stomach. Consequently, mankind needs collectively to promote sustainable ways of reducing this wastage. This essay will describe typical situations relating to food waste and will focus on practical solutions to this issue. …show more content…
Lam et al. (2013, pp. 4-16) commented that ‘alternative power generation facilities, such as hydropower stations, gas-fired stations, coal-fired stations, oil-fired stations and hybrid power stations have been developed’. In the near future, energy costs may dramatically rise, not only because of a sharp increase in its demand, but also due to a gradual reduction in its availability. Energy in agriculture can be used in different ways, such as pumping water, storage, processing food, producing fertilisers and to power field machines, and most of these methods come from fossil fuels, which is harmful to global warming. Therefore, it is necessary to find sustainable energy sources, making agriculture less fossil fuel dependent. Better usage of this resource may be achieved by simply reducing food waste, and promoting technology growth can be helpful finding different energy …show more content…
Available at: http://www.fao.org/news/story/en/item/95161/icode (Accessed: 26 August 2014)
Galbraith, K. (2012) ‘The battle against food waste’, 15 January, The New York Times [Online]. Available at: http://www.nytimes.com/2012/01/16/business/global/the-battle-against-food-waste.html (Accessed: 26 August 2014)
Lam, H.L., Ng, W.P.Q., Ng, R.T.L., Ng, E.H., Aziz, M.K.A., Ng, D.K.S. (2013) ‘Green strategy for sustainable waste-to-energy supply chain’, Energy, 57, pp. 4-16.
Institution of Mechanical Engineers (2013) Global food; waste not, want not. London, UK: Institution of Mechanical Engineers.
Monbiot, G. (2008) ‘Credit crunch? The real crisis is global hunger. And if you care, eat less meat’, 15 April, The Guardian [Online]. Available at: http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2008/apr/15/food.biofuels (Accessed: 25 August 2014)
Smithers, R. (2013) ‘Food waste report shows UK families throw away 24 meals a month’, 7 November, The Guardian [Online]. Available at: http://www.theguardian.com/environment/2013/nov/07/uk-households-food-waste (Accessed: 25 August

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