CSS3Pie trigger
Menu  University of Minnesota

How one small change could reduce your food waste

  • Infographic Design byAnna Egelhoff
  • Research and Writing byDanny Lindholm
Intro image

We often don’t give much attention to the food we consume. Grabbing a bite on the go or chowing down a meal are automatic actions based largely on appealing flavors and rumbles in our stomachs. Similarly, we often don’t give much attention to the food we waste — which, annually, weighs close to 4.5 times the combined weight of every human being on the planet.

When we waste food, we not only throw out perfectly edible calories, we also squander the land, water, energy, labor capital and environmental damage it embodies.

What can we do to reduce this huge problem? New research suggests that simply shrinking the size of the plates and cups we use can drastically curtail environmental, nutritional and monetary costs of food waste. View Ensia homepage

Add Your Comments
  • We are wasting not only food we are wasting grate amount of bio energy (human energy,animal energy and plants energy) which is not utilising properly in the production sector. Then we can caliculate the energy loss in the nature. Jul. 7th, 2015
    We are wasting not only food we are wasting grate amount of bio energy (human energy,animal energy and plants energy) which is not utilizing properly in the production sector. Then we can calculate the energy loss in the nature.
  • marrian bertin Jul. 9th, 2015
    A little over two years ago, I gave up using sugar. Since then, I have wasted less of what I buy at the supermarket. I think the reason is that I am vegetarian and most of what got wasted was vegetables or fruit. Because I no longer eat sweetened products, I end up eating more veggies and fruit to satisfy my hunger.
  • Pingback, Nov. 29th, 2015
Post a Comment

You care about environmental issues. So do we!

Sign up now for our bi-weekly newsletter and you'll get the latest stories from Ensia delivered straight to your inbox.

You're in! Watch your email soon for stories that build awareness and understanding of urgent environmental problems — and promising solutions to those problems.

Share This