Core77

Into the trash it goes

By Mark Vanderbeeken - May 18, 2008

in Object Culture

According to the New York Times, this is the amount of food an American family throws away each month, an estimated 27 percent of the food available for consumption, and that's not even counting food lost on forms and by processors and wholesalers.

"It happens at the supermarket, in restaurants and cafeterias and in your very own kitchen. It works out to about a pound of food every day for every American. [...]

The numbers seem all the more staggering now, given the cost of groceries and the emerging food crisis abroad. [...]

The problem isn't unique to the United States.

In England, a recent study revealed that Britons toss away a third of the food they purchase, including more than four million whole apples, 1.2 million sausages and 2.8 million tomatoes. In Sweden, families with small children threw out about a quarter of the food they bought, a recent study there found. [...]

The Department of Agriculture estimated that recovering just 5 percent of the food that is wasted [in the United States] could feed four million people a day; recovering 25 percent would feed 20 million people."

This sounds like a compelling case for a design solution to me. The article mentions a number of service design initiatives, basically food rescue organizations that pick up excess food from cafeterias and restaurants and then either provide it to homeless people, donate it to livestock farmers or compost it.

But more could be done:

"There are also efforts to cut down on the amount of food that people pile on their plates. A handful of restaurant chains including T.G.I. Friday's are offering smaller portions. And a growing number of college cafeterias have eliminated trays, meaning students have to carry their food to a table rather than loading up a tray."

Browse also the Wasted Food blog to find out more.

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Carton

16 years ago

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How well do you think tgifridays selling smaller portions would go over? would they lower their prices? Or are they already at a point where the amount of food isn't really deciding the meal cost for a restaurant like that? I know most of the time I throw food away is because it has spoiled in the refrigerator. Are there ways to more effectively store perishable food items? Maybe sometimes these "families" throw away food because they know it isn't going to end up keeping anyway.
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Jonathan Bloom

16 years ago

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What kind of design ideas did you have in mind, Mark? Are there any other kind of solutions besides service design initiatives that you can imagine cutting food waste?
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ilana

16 years ago

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how about smaller packaging and designed meals? would this help the average citizen buy and eat according to his needs, thus eliminating the purchase of too much food?
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Steve Portigal

16 years ago

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Confused. Does the family throw this food away or does the food retail and service industry throw this food away? Your first sentence is pretty misleading.
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