Defect of abundance
One third of globally produced food goes to waste. Why, figured Natalia Nechleba.
40 percent of purchased products are not eaten and goes in the trash, according to a recent study by the International Council for the protection of natural resources. “Champions” — Americans, but this problem is not USA only. Globally, the UN estimates that humanity throws food at $ 750 billion per year. Why is this happening, understood the “Spark”.
In this dumpster behind the supermarket so much food that I for a month I don’t buy food for several years.Alan Centerpolitical movement freegans from Connecticut
Freeganism — the most notorious method of dealing with overproduction of food. People ideologically refuse to buy food, as too a large number of edible products is in the trash.
We throw away a third of food produced 1.6 billion tons. While on the planet about one billion people suffer from hunger. As humanity was in such an absurd situation?
— The problem is complex, says Dana Gunders, member of the International Council for the protection of natural resources we are losing food at all stages. During harvest, shipping to factories and supermarkets, retail chains and consumers themselves throw it away (for example, the average American throws out food for 2 thousand dollars a year).
In addition, the simple economic truth is that the more food consumers throw away, the more producers can sell.Given Gundersen the International Council for the protection of natural resources
From field to fork
About 7 percent of the crop remains in the fields. The reason is simple: because of the low market prices for products the farmer is sometimes cheaper to leave the crop on the field than to spend money on his collection.
Further — more, up to 20 percent of the harvest farmers have to throw away because fruits and vegetables do not meet the “standards of beauty” retail chains (wrong size, color, weight, number of spots). 
The bulk in landfills rotting food in developed countries ends up in the waste from the shelves — about 30 percent. Supermarkets lost mostly pastries, meat, seafood, prepared food, fruit and vegetables.
Why is this happening? To people buying, supermarkets must be the shining realm of abundance. It is the policy of trading networks, but in such “interior” buyer adds to cart more products.
This leads to the fact that, for example, in the United States on the shelves of products in two times more than that required to Americans. Just for the sake of the image of the infinite abundance we throw away billions of tons of food.Tristram Stuart, Writer and ecoactivist
To people buying, supermarkets must be the shining realm of abundance. Only in such “interior” buyer adds to cart more products.
Another reason — “trap shelf life”. In America and Europe, on the packaging there are two time limits: “exp” and “best consumed before”. Usually the food goes in the trash for two or three days before the expiry of the last date, although it is edible almost a week after it was thrown. In the UK because of this, lost about 20 percent of the food.
— Modern American emits two times more food than his parents in the 1970s, says Dana Gunders.— The caloric value of our meals and their size has greatly increased over the past 30 years.
Since 1982, the caloric content of a slice of pizza increased by 70 percent. Increasing the size of the plates (the average since the 1960s, it grew by 36 percent), but they are still filled with — what we already eat.Given Gundersen the International Council for the protection of natural resources
“Food has long ceased to be what we value, says Professor Louise fresco, President of Wageningen University in the Netherlands (a leading agricultural research center in the world).— Throwing food is absolutely commonplace, even for those who care about the environment”.
Meanwhile, mountains of rotting food responsible for greenhouse gas emissions, a leading cause of human-induced climate change.
According to UN estimates, the carbon footprint of all discarded food globally per year is 3.3 billion tonnes. For comparison, global emissions of 50 billion tonnes.