Custom essays on “A War Against Food Waste” by Dylan Walsh

The article by Dylan Walsh states that a food industry alliance, the Grocery Manufacturers Association, is developing a three-year program on reduction of the tremendous amount of food thrown away in the garbage by the Americans, even though they have become more careful with recycling paper and yard trimmings.
As the latest available statistics show, over 30 million tons of food was discarded in landfills in 2009. Currently, judging by weight, the dumps consist mainly of food. This is as if every person in the United States would waste roughly 200 pounds of food a year. At the same time, over 50 million families suffer from food insecurity, that is, they can hardly satisfy their basic needs for food.
The initiative suggested by the Grocery Manufacturers Association strives both to reduce the amount of food thrown to landfills and to raise donations to food banks for the poor. First, the special committee will carry out a thorough survey of the causes and sources of food waste. Further the association will determine public policies which could ensure the supply of food to food banks instead of landfills. Finally, the committee will find industry practices and new technologies that promote the associated goals.
This problem is a magnificent example of inefficient use of resources.
Of course, the easiest ways to dispose of food waste are composting, deep-drying or burning. But neither of these methods in any country in the world has brought any good results in the issue of efficiency or in terms of economic viability. Meanwhile, the construction of factories, processing waste, including food, is very expensive. Exploitation and monitoring of these facilities require large investments.
At the same time there is a real need to utilize waste dumps, which occupy large areas of not only specialized polygons, but also the adjacent areas. This global trend has led to the solution of the problem, of utilization of bio-waste is seen in the construction and expansion of processing plants, while reducing waste of expensive landfills.
Supermarkets can also give away the food not yet spoiled, but for some other reason not suitable for sale, to organizations helping the homeless. It is also necessary to ensure a sufficient number of charitable organizations to take all the products shelf life of which has not yet expired.
However, in our opinion, it would be better not to redistribute the surplus, rather than create them. In connection with these data in our opinion citizens should be encouraged to show economical attitude to food, as well as to the proper storage of perishable products.
Works Cited
Walsh, Dylan. “A War Against Food Waste”, The New York Times, 15 Sept 2011.