Abstract
Food waste is one of the biggest problems in our generation. Our group researched the effects of food retail on the environment, and what we found was shocking. Food isn't the only thing affecting the environment; the whole process of it affects the environment and human health in a negative way. Even though this is a serious problem, not a lot of people have stepped up to solve it. So many animals have died from wasted food packaging, and that number isn't going down unless we help prevent this. People waste food every day when there are some citizens who are struggling to get a single meal a day. That's why we have to value our environment and food, and only get the food you know you're going to finish. We have researched and thought of our own solutions to stop food waste. If everybody were to do these things, we could have a world without food waste.
beyond the bin
Did you know that the food we waste is bad for the environment and humans? Even animals are affected by our food waste. Animals, most of the time, are attracted to food because they are hungry, but on the downside, it may get them severely sick or may even kill them. Some animal categories that are affected are birds, mammals, amphibians, insects, and reptiles. (Food Waste Is Trashing the Planet, 2019) Animals didn't start or cause this problem and they do not deserve to die because of it.
Rising Temperatures
When you throw away your leftovers that food will go into the landfill. The food that ends up in the landfill turns into greenhouse gases, which rise to the atmosphere but can't go into space. So they get stuck on Earth and heat up the Earth, which causes global warming (europarl.europa.eu, 2023). Many people have noticed this issue, but it's not enough for us to forget about it. If every human stopped wasting food, we could reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 6-8% (worldwildlife.org,2025)!
No waste, more taste
Food waste is a major worldwide issue, with 1.4 billion tons, which converts to 3 trillion pounds of food discarded each year, and the U.S. wastes over a third of its food. If there were no landfill waste, we could feed up to 130 billion hungry people. Highly wasted items such as milk, bread, and apples are commonly going to improper storage, emphasizing waste because of missed opportunities to prevent hunger and environmental problems.
wrapped and wasted
Food waste and packaging are major environmental issues. Fast food packaging makes up 88% of coastline trash (Matthews, 2025), and 85% of food packaging is discarded at home. These numbers are absurd. The food retail industry is so much more than just food. Plastic bags carrying food are terrible for the environment and of poor quality. If you have a big grocery list, most of it won't even fit in 3 bags. For the most part, you need to have 2 bags so they don't break. If you have reusable bags, they can carry all your items and won't break if you put too much in them. If you use a food delivery app to get some food, most of the time it comes in a plastic bag. 85% of food delivery packaging gets thrown away and ends up in landfills, and hurts the environment. Sometimes that waste even ends up in our oceans. 75-199 million tonnes of plastic are in our ocean right now.
Types of plastic food packaging that is in the ocean.
The Modern Food Market
The modern food markets are amazing for our economy and social aspects of community life (Mohr, 2024). Supermarkets and farmers' markets bring people together. They also create opportunities for locals to generate income. Farmer markets provide fresh produce. Online food delivery services are very bad for our environment. When the food gets transported from the carrier to the customer, sometimes it is very far away, so that long trip produces greenhouse gases. They produce 25% of all global greenhouse gas emissions (Peregudov, 2023)
How to Get Involved
Organizations
Some organizations to get involved in are:
- Feeding America
- Food Recovery Network
- Move For Hunger
- Sharing Excess
- US Hunger
All these organizations rescue food that would be thrown away and give it to people who are not privileged enough to afford food. This causes 2 positive outcomes: first, it keeps food out of our landfills, and it also helps the hunger crisis. These are all non-profit companies, so they do not take the profits for their wellbeing and use the money they make to help even more starving people.
Solutions
The Tetra Pak
One great solution to reduce food waste on our environment is the Tetra Pak. The Tetra Pak is a container brand that doesn't use plastics or Styrofoam. Instead of that, they use plant-based packaging. Tetra Pak has a lower carbon footprint because instead of using single-use packaging made from fossil fuel waste materials, Tetra Pak's packaging is plant-based and can be recycled. Some people don't like standard paper packaging because the product inside gets hot when in the sun. But that's where the Tetra Pak comes in. The Tetra Pak has an aluminum foil layer that provides product protection from oxygen and light. The Tetra Pak sold 178 billion packages in 2024, and plans to grow even further. Buying these packages could change the climate so much.
Learn more about The Tetra Pak here:
Composting
Composting is another great way to lower the environmental impact on food waste. When you compost you put your leftover produce into a large bin, then the food will eventually break down and then become fertilizer. This helps the environment because it reduces methane emissions from landfills, and recycles nutrients back into the soil. There are two ways to compost, one way is to buy a compost bin and do it yourself, the other is to use a company such as Compost for Life, Black Earth Compost, or Blue Earth Compost. These companies are easier because instead of doing it yourself you can have them pick up your leftovers and they will compost it for you.
Learn more about composting here:
Too Good To Go
Too Good To Go is a company that is saving the environment by using the "double impact". This means that they are helping the environment and people's health in a way that is connected. Too Good To Go takes food about to be wasted or leftovers and saves them, and sells food online. They take food that people look at and judge because they'd be a little mushy or brown, but these foods are still the same as the nice, good-looking foods. People just don't care and don't think that way. Too Good To Go also gives cheaper prices than usual. This helps homeless or just hungry people find a way to eat during a hard time for them. They also help the environment by saving these pieces of food from being tossed in the landfill. These people face a hard time with the new and larger price tags on food, but Too Good To Go has a great impact on them. They also really help the environment by only using paper or reusable bags to package the food.
Learn more about Too Good To Go here: