A Mission to Eliminate Food Waste

By Syrah Kai, TRENDI

I am the avocado half you didn’t finish, left in the fridge, and now I’m garbage.  

I am the remaining bananas in the bunch; you had good intentions for us, but, unfortunately, we may not make it to the freezer this time because we are way past overripe. 

I am the leftovers from the dinner you made, saying you’d have me for lunch but you went out again. Now I have no option but to turn to sludge and watch as you plug your nose in disgust when you open the container I’m in.

I am the carrot who didn’t grow quite right. The farmers love me, but the grocers think I’m too ugly and that no one will want to eat me despite us tasting the same once we reach the plate. I am the perfect peach one centimetre too small. They don’t think I’m a real fruit, so they let me fall. I’m the truckload of produce that can’t be used, the unnecessary loss of already scarce food.

I am the dumpster full of bread that could feed a village. No, they didn’t expire; the store simply needed to make room for a new shipment.

I am over a billion tonnes of wasted food while more than 800 million people go hungry around the world. I am the carbon emissions released for no reason when 30% of the food shipped never gets eaten. I am the planet, ripe with life and enough riches to fill bellies in any country or region. But not everyone feels the fullness of satisfaction. 

I am waste and I am needless because there are plenty of ways to prevent this. I am tired of rotting in front of the hungry because donating leftovers doesn’t make money. I am sick of the filth I have created and disgusted by the system that continues to ignore it.

I’m angry about food waste. 

Are you?

You can change this, you can feed the village. You can take a stand, educate your friends, and do your best to waste less. You can make a decision today to not throw anything away. You can keep an eye on your fruit and purchase no more than you need to. You can do a lot on your own, but together we can do much more.

We can start a new trend and feed everyone. We can keep the harvest without filtering for aesthetics. We can stop waste before it happens and make a world of difference. We can make food a given, not a privilege, to ensure the vulnerable get their nutrients. We have the technology to upcycle and rescue. 

We can do this, but we need you. We have work to do.