Zero Food Waste Worldwide
Oscar Kong ’25
Daphne Wong ’26
Is having zero food waste feasible? Why do we care? What can countries do to work towards it? In the United States, food waste is the single largest category of material placed in municipal landfills (USDA, n.d.). This waste decomposes in landfills and emits enormous amounts of methane, a greenhouse gas and a significant contributor to global warming. To slow the progression of global warming, reducing food waste is crucial.
Countries such as France and South Korea have been upfront with food waste policies and are serving as excellent examples for other countries to follow. France is the leading country in reducing food waste and has strict zero-food waste policies and sustainable agricultural policies. In 2015, it became the first country to ban the discarding of unexpired food from supermarkets, forcing stores to instead donate excess food to charities (Joe McCarthy, 2017). In addition, French farmers are adapting to more sustainable agricultural practices. Because of the abundance of strict measures taken to reduce food waste, France earned the top spot in the Food Sustainability Index.
South Korea now recycles more than 95% of its food waste, made possible due to government policies that limit households from wasting food. Because of the Korean tradition to have Banchans, which are many small dishes of appetizers during meals, food waste is very prevalent in Korean households. Therefore, the government established laws against sending food waste to landfills in 2005. In 2013, the legislation “pay as you throw” went into effect (Marissa Sheldon, 2020). The program mandates that food waste must be contained in a biodegradable bag and, with an electric identification tag, be thrown into a designated food waste bin that can weigh the bag. These bins are placed in almost every new residential building, and households are billed for their amount of food waste each month. The food waste is either composted in urban gardens or used to generate biofuel, saving the country up to $600k per day (Marissa Sheldon, 2020).
Currently, a few countries in the EU and several regions in the U.S. have begun employing similar “pay as you throw” programs, which is a great step for countries to work towards reducing food waste and the impacts of global warming. As students, we can take part in similar policies like “pay as you throw” at home and advocate for sustainable food waste programs in our communities. Only through taking such small steps can we collectively reduce the impacts of global warming that impacts us.
References
McCarthy, J. (2017, December 6). France continues to lead the world in ending food waste. Global Citizen.
https://www.globalcitizen.org/en/content/food-waste-sustainability-agriculture-ranking/
Sheldon, M. (2020, March 18). South Korea Recycles Food Waste in Effort to Become Zero-Waste Society. New York City Food Policy Center.
https://www.nycfoodpolicy.org/food-policy-snapshot-south-korea-food-waste/
U.S. Department of Agriculture. (2010). Why should we care about food waste? Usda.gov.
