STORY BY LAURA KRUG
On the evening of Thursday, October 17th, the Global Leadership Project hosted a screening of the documentary Just Eat It which exposes the reality of food waste. The documentary explores the wide-reaching effects of North America’s wasteful attitude toward our food and what we can do to overcome it. Alex Kultgen the Student Coordinator for GLP and Dr. Weisenborn co-sponsored the event. The Global Leadership Project bought the public screening license of the film last year to educate students on the reduction of food waste and encourage them to help make a change in our community.
If 40% of consumer’s food is being wasted in America not being eaten, where does it go? Estimates say that one-third of food produced globally goes uneaten. Throughout the world, 795 million people, or one in nine people do not receive enough food to lead a healthy life. Just Eat It documents Jen and Grant who demonstrate this point by surviving for 6 months only on food waste, or in their words, “rescued food”.
They travel to markets and collect the unwanted produce; by doing this they reveal the high standards that food must meet to be deemed acceptable by consumers. Many fruits and vegetables go to waste solely based on aesthetics. As high as 70% of food is rejected on the farms even before it arrives at the store, due to appearance. The supply is much larger than the demand in many cases. Developed countries produce 150% to 200% of the food supplies that they need. So when we fail to eat food, we are failing a system that is already inherently wasteful.
Jen and Grant do not struggle to find food and can live off of the surplus food they find outside of supermarkets and in dumpsters. The food is not expired, but it has simply passed the sell-by date and is, therefore, safe to eat. Sell-by dates confuse customers since they are actually only meant for the stores to use, and have no relation to expiration dates.
The law protects the private donation of food, but supermarkets do not donate food past the due date due to liabilities. But very little evidence can be found for this food being unsafe. In reality, dumping food is the most cost-effective way to dispose of it.
“Grocery stores have a problem. While some people are starving, good food is being thrown out to keep profits up,” Weisenborn said. “Buoyancy in the prices of produce and perishable goods are maintained in this way.”
Why is littering a crime but wasting food is a societal norm? Food waste provides a challenge when it eventually reaches the landfill. As it decomposes in the anaerobic environment, it produces methane which is a greenhouse gas.
“Things are packed down tight in landfills and can’t decompose,” Weisenborn said.
This could be avoided with the composting of food waste. The GLP provides a composting service for McMindes food and sends it to the university farm.
“The compost pile is not very big, but there are efforts being made to increase it,” Weisenborn said.
Alex Kultgen is at the head of the student movement for composting and recovering food. Efforts are being made it expand the composting of cafeteria food by applying for grants for more resources. By creating a relationship with the staff at Chartwells, together they are saving waste from the landfill.
“But if we start small, we can create an impact that can go beyond just our campus,” Kultgen said.
There are many questions that can be asked regarding surplus food being sent to those in the community who need it; however, they aren’t always easy to answer.
“Students are asking questions about food waste that Chartwells won’t necessarily want to answer,” Kultgen said.
Efforts are still being made to find a way to give excess food to distribution centers in Hays.