What a Waste

            Have you ever heard the saying “waste not, want not” (Dive)? Now in days it seems like we are wasting a lot more than we are saving. Food waste is a big problem in today’s society, “96 billion pounds of food is wasted a year” (Dive). Everywhere you turn food is being wasted, in schools, grocery stores, and households. There are numerous ways to cut back on food waste. Americans have seemed to become too comfortable in thinking that the supply of food is endless.

            The schools in Duval County will throw food away before they will give it to a student without lunch money. If a child comes through the lunch line and they are over their allowed spending limit the cafeteria workers are told to throw away the food, once it is touched it cannot be given to someone else. Then the student is given a cold cheese sandwich consisting of two stale pieces of bread and cheese which most students just throw away. With this process not only is the original hot lunch wasted but so is the cheese sandwich. At most schools students are not allowed to share food so if a student does not want something on their tray they are instructed to throw it away. Studies show that “food waste at schools nationwide costs about $1 billion annually” (theslowcook.com).

            Grocery stores also play a big part in the amount of food wasted every year. Food that is considered “bad” is thrown out at night. I know some of you are saying bad food should be thrown away but then you have to define the word bad. The expiration date is one determining factor of bad food but the date you see is usually the date the store has to stop selling it not the date that it is no longer good to eat(webmd.com). If one tomato in a pack goes bad then the whole package is thrown out (Dive). Have you ever really paid attention to the carts in the stores that have marked down items in them because they are about to expire?

            Even in our own homes we are constantly wasting food.  Some people do not like to eat left over food therefore they just throw cooked food away after everyone has eaten. They freeze meat that they may buy on sale then forget to take it out of the freezer so they buy more and end up throwing the frozen meat away. Americans tend to cook big meals on holidays and birthdays knowing it is not going to get eaten just so family, friends, and neighbors can pick over what was cook. Children are forced to half eat a meal because even though we know our kids don’t like broccoli we try to make them eat it anyway. There are countries like Haiti that are in dire need of food and The United States of America is wasting it just because we do not value food.

            Waste can be cut back on if people really tried. There are people in need throughout the world and most people and places would rather throw food out then to give it to people in need because they are afraid of a lawsuit (Dive). Thanks to former President Bill Clinton you do not have to worry about things like this. In 1996 President Bill Clinton signed The Federal Bill Emerson Good Samaritan Food Donation Act (feedingamerica.org). President Clinton signed this act to encourage donation of food and grocery products to non-profit organizations for distribution to individuals in need (feedingamerica.org). This law protects people from liability when they donate to a non-profit organization and protects individuals from civil and criminal liability should the product donated in good faith later cause harm to the recipient (feedingamerica.org). Grocery stores can now give freely to others without fear. Share tables will help to cut waste in schools. A share table is when students place unwanted food on an empty table for anyone to enjoy. At home we can just buy what we need or cook only what we will eat so that we are not throwing out food every day.

            The next time you are at home or in the grocery store take a minute to really look and see how much food is being wasted. Visit your children during lunch time and just observe the way lunch is handled at their school. Are they allowed to share, or are they forced to throw their food away. We as Americans have to do better and we have to stop being so wasteful. Whether it is at school, home, or in the grocery store it is up to us to stop this wasteful cycle.