Food waste

By Livia Mueller

Food waste in general is a huge problem these days and even our school struggles with it.             

So what even is food waste? It is the food that doesn’t get eaten and thrown away. According to Wikipedia there are numerous causes for food waste that occur throughout the entire food systems during production, processing, distribution, retail and consumption. Overall about one-third of the world’s food gets thrown away.

How does food waste occur at our very own high school? If you ever threw something in one of the trash cans you might have noticed unopened packs of food or an almost untouched school lunch. As an individual it might not seem like a big deal if you throw your food away for whatever reason but if everyone thinks that way it adds up to a whole lot of perfectly fine food getting thrown into the trash every single day. 

If you are one of those people here are some suggestions of what you could do instead of throwing your food away. For instance if you know what the school lunch is that day and you already know you are not going to eat it, you might as well not take it because there most likely is someone who would actually want that lunch. Another easy tip is at least try the food you get and if it really isn’t good you can still throw it away, which is somewhat better than throwing the unopened pack away.

Photo by Livia Muller

Freshman Trinity Pyle states,” I feel that there is a lot of food waste and it is disappointing but also very common…as a vegan person I tend to throw away a lot of the food simply because I am unable to eat it. That’s why I would like more options of food or at least being able to only grab what I want and can eat.”

Student Addison Cunningham expresses,” It makes me sad how much food is wasted just at this school…sometimes when I don't enjoy the cafeteria food, I throw it away, but I always try to give it to others.” Addison says,” In order to change the amount of wasted food, I think that they should make the food more enjoyable for students, so that they don't feel the need to throw it into the trash.”