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South Korea now recycles 95% of its food waste

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Re: South Korea now recycles 95% of its food waste

#31

Post by allannienhuis »

benj111 wrote: post #25
linuxftw wrote: post #15

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Many people don't eat leftovers. In some cases it's cheaper to buy 5 lbs of something and throw out 2 pounds than to pay for 3 1-lb packages. Have you ever been to a restaurant? Most people throw out over 25% of the food on their plates. This is all a symptom of a distorted market place. Food's too cheap thanks to subsidized farming.

"Have you ever been to a restaurant? Most people throw out over 25% of the food on their plates" I've worked in a few. As a European I'd say food waste was lower than that. Id expect restaurant food waste to be higher, as they can't personalise portion sizes as effectively, so unless most people eat out most days, I don't see how that could account for all the waste. But apparently it does? I really hope peelings etc…

Europeans out out a lot less than most places in the world. Perhaps a stronger home-cooking culture.

https://www.nielsen.com/ca/en/insights/news/2016/dining-with...

Looks like it's about twice as often as in Europe. Interestingly Asia/Pacific is even higher (cheap street food FTW!)

Re: South Korea now recycles 95% of its food waste

#32

Post by newnewpdro »

OldHand2018 wrote: post #26

It's important to bring up the Food Recovery Hierarchy when talking about food waste. Composting is not the least desirable outcome, but it is close. We really need to focus on the higher priority reduction methods: https://www.epa.gov/sustainable-management-food/food-recover...

This implies composting food waste is only slightly better than landfill, which is obviously absurd.

Illustrating that the next best existing option after composting is landfill, says nothing of the delta separating the two on the efficacy axis. It only speaks to a lack of altnernatives separating composting and landfill.

I'd argue that burying your food waste in any land that food will potentially be grown in is infinitely superior to sticking it in a landfill where food will never be deliberately grown.

From my perspective, living on a rural property with an outhouse where all food waste and human waste is buried and eventually grown food from your comment strikes me as ridiculous. I add obvious value to my land burying this waste, it completely escapes reuse, effectively exiting the system, when I put it in the dumpster.

Re: South Korea now recycles 95% of its food waste

#33

Post by BurningFrog »

benj111 wrote: post #28
BurningFrog wrote: post #24

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Keep in mind that a lot of that "waste" happens before the food reaches us consumers.

This is just the consumer waste. Ie the red bit of that first chart.

I'll admit I didn't read the article :/

Re: South Korea now recycles 95% of its food waste

#34

Post by thatcat »

newnewpdro wrote: post #32
OldHand2018 wrote: post #26

It's important to bring up the Food Recovery Hierarchy when talking about food waste. Composting is not the least desirable outcome, but it is close. We really need to focus on the higher priority reduction methods: https://www.epa.gov/sustainable-management-food/food-recover...

This implies composting food waste is only slightly better than landfill, which is obviously absurd. Illustrating that the next best existing option after composting is landfill, says nothing of the delta separating the two on the efficacy axis. It only speaks to a lack of altnernatives separating composting and landfill. I'd argue that burying your food waste in any land that food will potentially be grown in is inf…

There is a high loss to atmosphere/runoff on burying your food in the soil for recovering it later as available fertilizer nutrients.

Re: South Korea now recycles 95% of its food waste

#35

Post by crazygringo »

benj111 wrote: post #8

"per capita food waste in Europe and North America is 95kg to 105kg a year" That's a massive amount, and that is just waste in the household, not waste in the farm or factory. I can understand some wastage of salad and berries etc, but they're all lighter stuff. How can the average westerner waste 2kg food a week???

Yes that sounds insane. That's 0.6 lbs food per day, which is the same as throwing away by weight every day (using McD's as an internationally recognizable reference):

- 1.5 McDonald's quarter-pounder sandwiches [1]

- or 2.5 portions of McDonald's medium fries [2]

That seems like a lot of food to waste. Like that just doesn't pass the smell test...

Maybe they're counting liquids like milk too, that's gone past the expiration date? Otherwise I just can't wrap my head around this.

[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quarter_Pounder#Product_descri...

[2] https://www.mcdonalds.com/gb/en-gb/help/faq/19041-how-much-d...

Re: South Korea now recycles 95% of its food waste

#36

Post by Pfhreak »

crazygringo wrote: post #35
benj111 wrote: post #8

"per capita food waste in Europe and North America is 95kg to 105kg a year" That's a massive amount, and that is just waste in the household, not waste in the farm or factory. I can understand some wastage of salad and berries etc, but they're all lighter stuff. How can the average westerner waste 2kg food a week???

Yes that sounds insane. That's 0.6 lbs food per day , which is the same as throwing away by weight every day (using McD's as an internationally recognizable reference): - 1.5 McDonald's quarter-pounder sandwiches [1] - or 2.5 portions of McDonald's medium fries [2] That seems like a lot of food to waste. Like that just doesn't pass the smell test... Maybe they're counting liquids like milk too, that's gone past the e…

That sounds low, based on the American families I know...

Re: South Korea now recycles 95% of its food waste

#37

Post by sfotm »

benj111 wrote: post #8

"per capita food waste in Europe and North America is 95kg to 105kg a year" That's a massive amount, and that is just waste in the household, not waste in the farm or factory. I can understand some wastage of salad and berries etc, but they're all lighter stuff. How can the average westerner waste 2kg food a week???

I don’t think it’s in the purely personal sense. Imagine how much unused food must be thrown out at restaurants and delicatessens. Buffet and prepared foods probably don’t roll over into the next day.

Re: South Korea now recycles 95% of its food waste

#38

Post by benj111 »

benj111 wrote: post #8

"per capita food waste in Europe and North America is 95kg to 105kg a year" That's a massive amount, and that is just waste in the household, not waste in the farm or factory. I can understand some wastage of salad and berries etc, but they're all lighter stuff. How can the average westerner waste 2kg food a week???

I note that most replies seem to point to the bad habits of others.

This is an average. Everyone is wasting this on average. So presumably there's either a stigma against wasting food, which makes it all the more crazy, and/or people that waste food aren't interested in this kind of article. That would suggest they waste even more than average.

Re: South Korea now recycles 95% of its food waste

#39

Post by hanniabu »

mythrwy wrote: post #29
vonmoltke wrote: post #23

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Much of the 'compost' you receive at big-box stores is treated human waste: https://www.epa.gov/biosolids/frequent-questions-about-bioso... I don't see anything on that page to support this specific claim.

Not "most", but there is milorganite. https://www.milorganite.com/using-milorganite/what-is-milorg...

> So Milorganite is actually a bag of dried microbes!

great marketing

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