Topic > How restaurants and farmers are solving the food waste problem

Climate change has reached a point where it's not so easy to turn back. We see evidence of this in the infamous Pacific Garbage Patch, we feel it in the weather that has nothing to do with the fact that it is somehow even hotter than you might imagine, and entire countries are crashing into each other over waste illegal downloaded in third world countries. We say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on "Why Violent Video Games Shouldn't Be Banned"? Get an Original Essay But with all these companies around who could care less about the environment as long as they make a profit, how do we try to fight climate change while there's still consumption? To give an example, there are over 15 million restaurants in the world. Overall, the food produced by these restaurants is more or less adequate for customers, but even then, approximately 1.3 billion tons of food is still lost or wasted. According to a report from the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, an arm of the United Nations that studies and leads international efforts to end hunger, these billions in wasted food are also incredibly expensive. In industrialized areas, the cost can rise to a dizzying $680 billion, and although in developing countries, this is only halved to $310 billion, it is still a large sum to bear. It gets worse. The FAO reports that the majority of this wasted food are root crops, accounting for 50% of total food production, followed by 35% fish, 30% cereals and 20% oilseeds. Most waste also occurs in industrialized countries. Even when measured collectively, the numbers are close, meaning that total food waste is “more than half of the world's annual grain harvest,” which amounts to 2.3 billion tons. This was back in 2009 and 2010, but if restaurants and households don't continue to do something about it, we may just see more food waste in the future. The worst culprits of food waste are, obviously, all of us. However, FAO reports that 40% of food losses in developing countries occur at “post-harvest and processing levels,” compared to industrialized countries which lose 40% of their food at the retail and consumer levels. . At this point, however, it would be too difficult to reverse everything. For one thing, it's frustratingly difficult to recycle or reduce waste if big corporations don't stop emitting gases into the atmosphere, or mowing down entire forests to provide the world with food to satiate its hunger for livestock and coffee. Even using a metal straw is a luxury nowadays, and sometimes completely questionable when you think about the amount of plastic you still have in your possession. However, restaurants are trying to change that, as CNN World reports, restaurants in California right now are experimenting with a new way to combat food waste in the form of surcharges that aim to help support farmers "who use practices that they reduce carbon in the atmosphere.” The online news portal goes on to say that this is a program initiated by the Restore California Renewable Restaurant program and that, although it seems like a good idea, the initiative has nevertheless become something optional for restaurants, in order to help them facilitate Not c There's no guarantee they'll fully adopt it, for now, but what's impressive is the fact that anyone cared enough to think about it. According to Anthony Myint, the organizer of the initiative, he wants restaurants to take notice.”