consumable waste plan by: Zachary M

Most of the food my family eats comes in packaging or some type of container except vegetables.  If those were packaged, they would lose their freshness and wouldn’t be as good and flavorful as if you bought them fresh in a market for example or picked freshly from the ground and then bought from a store counter top.

Most of the packaging is generally the same;  either styrofoam or a polyester wrap or both. These packages keep the food from  rotting, to keep it’s shape or not losing it’s flavor. Some food like cakes comes in a plastic container because a regular wrapper would be too small to fit the size of a cake.

Every food has different shapes and different ingredients that can stay fresh in different materials.  If they were to be put in a different space they would maybe rot quicker or would get squished and become mushy and not be as good to eat.

If the package is a plastic bag, it can be reused.  If it is cardboard that could also be a reusable material.  Reuse can help the environment. Sadly most of the plastic packaging cannot be reused and that in effect damages our ecosystem. That’s why my family tries our best to re use and help the planet the most we possibly can. Because a little  effort to help the planet can go a long way.

Packaging is positive as the food is not exposed and can’t get contaminated with other things around it such as other food on the counter or people putting their hands all over and spreading their germs. And you can bring packaged food anywhere without the worries of it falling out or getting dirty. But a negative is when the consumer is done with whatever is inside the packaging now they have to find some way to re use it or throw it away which damages our environment.

Once the consumer is done with the packaging they will throw it away and then that trash packaging get’s thrown into the landfills. Or it can be recycled and get’s put into the recycling it will then be but into a recycling depot and will get used or transformed into other objects/ materials Or it might even be used as a food packaging once again.

Plastic takes anywhere from 10 to 1,000 years to decompose.  Most of our food packaging is made out of plastic. It will just sit in a landfill site and  very slowly disintegrate.  Further, there are many landfills all over the world. It is  having a significant  impact on our ecosystem and will have harsh long term affects.

Food waste gets put into compost so eventually it will become dirt.   The dirt provides a nutrient-rich environment to grow plants such as trees, flowers or vegetables  which provide us oxygen as well as food.  Creating more dirt from composted food waste can only benefit us more. It also  helps build up our ecosystem. But most people aren’t very knowledgeable when it comes to that subject so they just throw away excess food into the garbage and then that food gets thrown into the landfills and rot’s and there it slowly ruins our environment.

• One way to produce less food waste is when you eat, take smaller portions. With larger portions,  you end up taking  too much and then throw the rest of it away
• Plan your meals to purchase only what you are going to use
• Store food properly and consume it before it goes bad