Stop Wasting Food! Think. Eat. Save.

Posted on 28/10/2020

Global food and drink waste reduction. Think. Eat. Save.

World Environment Day is approaching and it is time again for households and businesses to be made aware of the wrong methods of waste disposal they might be using. Three years ago the theme of the WED initiative was Think. Eat. Save., which is also an ongoing initiative that strives to ‘reduce the foodprint’ the people are leaving on the world. And this is as simple as a message can be conveyed. It says all that has to be said about the method to decrease the food waste in household and business environments. The whole initiative was meant to raise global awareness about all the food wasting going about on the... well, the planet.

And the facts are scary. 30% of global food supply is wasted on a yearly basis. Globally, just the food waste that people dump for waste disposal is enough to feed half the world’s population. A single country, like Italy, or France, produces enough leftovers to feed tens of millions of people. And if your hair has not whitened up by now, those are just meek estimates. It is a cliché, but do think about the starving nations in places like Africa and Asia – all this waste can feed them and there will still be leftovers to go! The wasting of food has been a global problem since quite a while and very few people are doing anything about it. If you want to make a change, here are steps you can take towards a better tomorrow. 

Reducing Household Food Waste

When you are doing waste clearance, think twice when you get to the fridge or the pantry. Is everything there really ready to be thrown away or have you simply had enough of it and you want to make space for more? If the latter is true, then you are doing your waste disposal wrong and you are part of the problem. Change your ways to leave a lesser ‘foodprint’. And here are some ways you can start with:

•    Food preservation: Different cultures have different ways of preserving food to last way past its due date. Pastirma, for example, is a Turkish pressed meat conserved in a can, and it can survive for ages. Aaruuls is dried curdled milk which the Mongolians make – it is practically everlasting. And Balkan nations are pretty handy at pickling foods. Every culture has its own cuisine methods, find the ones you like best and use up those leftovers for another day instead of throwing them away. 

•    Broths: Vegetable leftovers are incredibly simple to deal with. Instead of throwing them away for rubbish collection, freeze them! Put them in a plastic bag and shove them in your freezer. And when the cold days of winter come, take them out and make yourself a simple broth to warm your soul with. 

•    Sharing and donating: Of course, you don’t have to be the only one to east your food. If you produce food in abundance and you can never finish it up yourself, then share. The street is polluted with hungry people as well – do a good deed and help them get through another day with a simple serving of your still good leftovers. 

•    Charity drives: There are plenty of charities for feeding the hungry. Donate to them as well. There are literally capable chefs who are specialised in cooking leftovers and travelling the world to feed hungry people with them – such are the teams of Think. Eat. Save., for example. Be a part of it and show a better side of yourself. 

The disposal of food does not have to be in such abundance. The very least you can do is at least practice waste recycling with composts in your garden. The point is to never let any food leftovers go to waste. It is an actual shame that the world is facing such numbers when it can literally be a better place with much less hungry people. Do your part when doing your home clearance and all that can come true.