Food Waste Delta Ford, Erika Williamson, Chloe Scott

Did You Know… Approximately 35 million tons. That’s the amount of wasted food Americans conjured up in the year 2012 alone according to the US Environmental Protection Agency. Unfortunately that number is only increasing. Financially speaking, the Natural Resources Defense Council found Americans are throwing out the equivalent of $165 billion each year. Approximately 40 percent of food in the U.S. goes to waste according to the US Food and Agriculture Organization. The FAO calculated that roughly one third of the food produced in the world for human consumption every year — approximately 1.3 billion tons — gets lost or wasted.

Did You Know… According the Washington Post, Americans wasted more food than they did plastic, paper, and metal in Over 97% of food waste generated ends up in the landfill as reported by the Environmental Protection Agency. “As it decomposes in landfills, the waste releases methane and other harmful greenhouse gases into the atmosphere. Meanwhile, 1 in 6 Americans struggles with hunger.” – harvestpublicmedia.org sept And according to the Department of Environmental Protection, as of 2014 Berks County’s landfill had an estimated total of over 430,000 tons of trash, consisting mostly of compost (i.e. organic waste such as food scraps and yard trimmings) from PA.

On average, diners leave 17 percent of meals uneaten and 55 percent of these potential leftovers are not taken home. ~Natural Resources Defense Council

Food Waste in Tully’s After interviewing Tully’s workers, we found that a substantial amount of food is thrown away at the end of every work day. One worker said that between lunch and dinner everyday, the amount of leftover food would be more than enough to donate to a soup kitchen

Survey Says….

Reducing food waste by 20 percent would provide enough food to feed 25 million people. ~Natural Resources Defense Council

Reduce Food Home... -Make a list of the meals and ingredients that you need. Buy what you only need -Reuse ingredients for other meals -Eat healthier, therefore the old food can be used for compost -Include serving quantities on your shopping list -Learn ways to store your vegetables and fruits so they last longer -Eat Leftovers! -Donate food to shelters

School -Have a section or container where wasted food can be thrown out. Compost section -At the end of the week or day have either a company or people take the wasted food to a compost site -Properly store food so it can be eaten again -Donate to shelters

Benefits of Reducing Food Waste -Save money -Reduce methane emissions -Conserves energy and resources -Helps reduce climate change -Better for environment

Spreading the Word Research Questionnaire Interviewed Tully’s workers Spread facts about food waste Panel Invited people to events

Just Eat It Film & post film panel discussion: April in Luerssen room 5 (open to the public) Film: April 1-2:15PM in Franco 151 (campus viewing only) Racing to Zero Film & post film panel discussion: April in Luerssen room 5 (open to the public) Film: April 1-2:15PM in Franco 151 (campus viewing only) The Campus Sustainability Team Presents:

Weird Shaped Food that gets wasted