Back at home, my family would often go to a grocery store to restock our fridge. We would pick fruits, vegetables, snacks, meat, and some packaged side dishes and put them in our cart. When we returned, we would take out the expired groceries that were neglected in the corner of the fridge, and sometimes we would realize that we bought an item that we already had. I always pitied how we had to throw away the mushy berries and the rotten leftover foods in a to-go box, but similar situations always happened in a matter of a couple of weeks.
I’m sure I’m not the only one who experiences this dilemma — every time I walk on a street, I notice trash cans overflowing with plates of half-eaten food and half-filled cups. Even in Paresky Commons, I notice countless plates on the conveyor belt that still have food and trays of vegetables at the bar that are left untouched.
As shown by a report from the US Department of Agriculture, 44 million people experience hunger and food insecurity in the United States of America. Ironically, according to the FDA, about 133 billion pounds and 161 billion dollars worth of food are wasted every year in the U.S. This is because more foods are supplied to economically comfortable areas, for there is more infrastructure available for selling, more customers who can buy the products, and a higher possibility that the foods will be sold for a higher price. To me, it seems weird and unfair how there is such an overflow of food when I always hear news about people dying from starvation. Redistribution of food is necessary in our current society. To do so, we should consider adopting South Korea’s waste system… with a twist. Nonetheless, the mindset change to enable action starts here, in our own Andover community.
One way to solve the problem may be enforcing people to use a special type of bag for throwing away food waste and charging extra fees for buying the trash bag. I experienced this system when I lived in South Korea, where we had to recycle trash based on its specific type, including food waste. It was cumbersome, and yet we had to be less wasteful to save our own money. The same system could be applied here as well. Although South Koreans use the fees collected to fund the cost of waste disposal, we may use it to fund the transportation for the redistribution of food since we already pay the fees for waste disposal. It may sound unreasonable or unfair to say that we need to pay extra money for what we throw away and to distribute food to others. From an individualistic standpoint, it may seem true that we don’t need to take responsibility for how unfortunate and hungry others are. However, if we view hunger issues as a societal problem, where society is pushing us to meet the rapid inflations and the continuously diverging wealth gap, it is obvious that we should treat this issue with consciousness and sincerity.
We don’t need to wait for the higher authorities to start the whole movement. On a smaller scale, we can catalyze changes within Andover, perhaps conducting surveys to gather information about menus students want and trying to incorporate those menus into the daily meals. This way we can analyze what foods students are actually going to get, and reduce unnecessary food waste. With the funds saved from removing less desired menus, our school may be able to use it for good purposes, such as helping socioeconomically disadvantaged communities near Andover. Ultimately, food waste is a mindset where we simply throw things away if it no longer serves us value. We can not hope to reduce food waste on a larger scale if we do not learn the importance of doing so within our own lives, within our own small bubbles. We must desire to change, first, and only then can we implement some of the ideas that I have presented in this article.
We as a community must communicate and cooperate to bring forth change, whether it is using a special type of bag or surveying students for menus. The food we waste is a solvable crisis; it’s just that we need to endure a little inconvenience and take action to solve the problem.
