Food Studies Waste Plan

Food Studies 10 Consumable Waste

Brent A.                                                                                                          9/27/21

 

 

How many of these foods come in different packaging?

First, let’s start off by using real foods as an example to count different packaging, note, we will be counting the packaging you would get for receiving food to go. Let’s start with hamburgers, most burgers come in paper and styrofoam packaging. Food like stir fry noodles could come in cardboard packaging. Soup most likely is to come in plastic bowls with lids, the same can also go for bento boxes.  Usually, large orders would call for a bag, like if you were ordering large fries, a hamburger, and chicken nuggets at Mcdonald’s, they would put it all in a bag.

What kind of packaging materials come in different types of packaging?

         Paper wrappers can also be paper bags. Plastic soup bowls can also become plastic bento boxes (it doesn’t have to necessarily be bento boxes, but bento boxes are a good example). Those two are usually the most common alternative changes, unlike cardboard and styrofoam, you see them more used as just boxes to contain food in.

Why do you think all of these materials were chosen specifically for the products purchased?

         Each of these materials has its own strengths and weaknesses. An example would be that paper wrappers can be far more portable than a cardboard box for your hamburger. Or using a plastic bowl would be far better than using a cardboard box to store your noodles. But commonly, they are used because they are cheaper, lightweight, and portable in some cases. They all function the same when it comes to withstanding heat.

How is packaging both positive and negative for the user (the person using it)?

         In every case, the packaging always benefits the user in one way, for PACKAGING the food. You won’t have to hold greasy hot food in your hands traveling anywhere, or if you’re sitting down and they give you a burger in a box, that’s far better than just setting it on the table, no tray or anything, just a burger.

 

The only way I could think of that goes against the user is just the space it takes up, like sure it’s more portable and a safer way to keep your food, but it’s nothing to write home about. What would be cool is if we could make a machine that just shrinks food to a portable size where you can keep it in your pocket, and then upsize it when you want to take it out. Obviously, that doesn’t exist, so I’m going to say the amount of space it takes up is going to be a con for me. This is extremely unlikely, but there could be some cases where you are charged extra for packaging, which is a negative since you are spending more money to eat. But it’s extremely unlikely, and unless you’re on some crazy budget plan, this isn’t going to kill you.

What happens to these packaging materials once we’ve eaten the food inside?     

         I think 95% of the time, these packaging materials are thrown away. Hopefully into the correct spots though. The other 5% percent belongs to the people who keep their packaging for some reason. Maybe like that guy who has kept every Big Mac packaging to show how much Big Macs he has eaten in his life. VERY situational but, if you ask me, it’s usually thrown away.

Where is the packaging after one day? One year? One decade?

         I can’t tell you specifically the numbers of packaging waste in one day, although I can give you the numbers for one year. And in just one year, 34.5 million tons of plastic food packaging are sent to processing. That’s 30% of the U.S. waste yearly. 30%. Multiplying this by 10 would give us the answer to how much we’d get in one decade. Now prepare your eyes, in just another 9 years, judging from these numbers, there would be three hundred forty-five million in just a decade. That’s weights just about 49k male elephants at their max average weight. (Male elephants weigh about 2-7 tons.)

What happens to the food waste?

Any of the food we waste usually ends up in some landfill sites, where they just rot. As they rot, they release a hurtful greenhouse gas that is called methane. Not only does it just pollute the air, but it is also a huge waste of power and water AND packaging. 9% of packaging waste usually gets recycled, but the rest of the 81% goes to the same landfill sites as food waste too. What a loving reunion.

Provide 3-4 suggestions for ways that consumers can decrease the amount of waste we create.

1. One great way is to always save food, don’t let it spoil either. Always make it a routine to throw leftovers in the fridge, they save food and time, it’s that simple.
2. Plastic bags are a good example of a one-use thing, using things like disposable or reusable bags can prevent food waste. Glass containers are a good example of reusable packaging.
3. This one may be difficult but having your own little garden to grow your herbs and vegetables will help a lot. It can be big or small, having a garden will impact the environment around you positively.
4. Learning what to compost and recycle is so simple but yet so important, make it a daily routine to do these types of things. Separating your garbage bin into recyclables and compost and regular ol’ trash are definitions of what you could do to affect the world positively.