5 Impacts of Food Waste

  • The impact of food waste is that it will produce methane gas.
  • Food waste also has an impact on the use of large amounts of water.
  • Food waste can also have an impact on land use.

Environmental issues are one of the topics that are often discussed. This is because more and more environmental problems are emerging, one of which is related to food waste. Reporting from Beritasatu.com, the Minister of National Development Planning said that in 2000-2019 the amount of food waste in Indonesia reached 23-48 million tons per year, equivalent to 115-184 kilograms/capita/year. This makes Indonesia occupy the second position after Saudi Arabia as the largest food waste producer in the world according to The Economist Intelligence Unit.

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Food waste itself refers to food that is still fit for human consumption, but is simply thrown away until it ends up piling up in a landfill. Food waste is one of the main factors in global climate change. Food waste not only harms your pocket, which costs money to buy food which is ultimately wasted, but also has a negative impact that can damage the surrounding environment.

The impact of food waste is that it will produce methane gas. Co-Founder and Advisor of Indonesian Energy and Environmental Institute (IE2I) stated, “Methane gas is a greenhouse gas that has the potential to exacerbate global warming”. When food waste that has accumulated has decomposed and degraded, it will emit harmful methane gas which can affect global warming. Methane gas is also very dangerous for human health and can cause explosions.

Food waste also has an impact on the use of large amounts of water. Water plays a very important role in life, one of which is in terms of food. Water is needed in the process of food production, growing plants both vegetables and fruits, and the survival of animals that can produce meat, eggs, for human consumption. Thus, if we waste food, it is like we are wasting precious water supplies.

Petroleum is wasted because of this food waste. Petroleum also plays an important role in producing food, for example in agriculture. Farmers plow the fields using tractors that require petroleum fuel to be used. If we throw away food, it’s the same as throwing away petroleum.

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With food waste, biodiversity is threatened. This happens because food waste can damage ecosystems both at sea and in rivers and endanger the living creatures in it.

Food waste can also have an impact on land use. Some land is used as production land and some is used as a landfill. If the amount of food waste increases, the use of land as a landfill will be wider. This results in the loss of land used for production land.

Food waste is one of the environmental problems in Indonesia which has many negative impacts on the environment. Indonesia produces a very large amount of food waste which is an environmental problem today. The impacts caused by food waste will result in food production and can disrupt the survival of living things on earth.

Editor: Riana Nurhasanah

References:

https://www.google.com/amp/s/amp.suara.com/health/2019/10/05/050000/tinggi-gas-metana-sampah-makanan-berisiko-picu-perubahan-iklim

https://www.beritasatu.com/amp/nasional/881163/data-indonesia-salah-satu-penghasil-sampah-makanan-terbesar

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