
Food Waste
Food waste constitutes a huge problem at various stages of production, distribution, and consumption of products. A significant portion of food is wasted before it reaches retail outlets. Sometimes goods are never shipped to sellers due to strict quality standards, appearance, or currently unfavorable market prices. Such items are usually designated for disposal. Some products are lost in the process of transport, transshipment, or improper storage in warehouses. A large portion of the effort associated with production, as well as the energy, raw materials, and natural resources used, is irreversibly wasted.
A significant amount of food found in retail outlets is discarded after surpassing its expiration date. This is a serious issue because it results in an irrevocable loss of resources and human labor, and most importantly, it often leads to environmental damage. Most of the discarded food negatively impacts the greenhouse effect, as greenhouse gases such as methane are released during the decomposition of waste in landfills. Excessive agricultural production that does not meet market needs is associated with the overuse of nitrogen fertilizers, which leads to frequent contamination of groundwater and depletion of seabed.
Dilemmas of Food Producers and Distributors
Market participants face significant questions. Discarding food after its expiration date by supermarkets is often more profitable than giving away this food for free shortly before its expiration date. A customer who receives a product for free or buys it at a fraction of its value will not be inclined to purchase that product again at the normal price in the future. If customers do not buy goods because substitutes are given for free, then the store’s sales of regular goods decline. This leads to an increase in food waste. Let’s assume that for some reason, supermarkets decide to forgo part of their revenue and donate some products nearing their expiration date for free. This will result in a significant reduction in the volume of orders sent to food producers. The decline in turnover for economic reasons is not good for either producers or distributors. Both parties, both production plants and stores, will strive to maximize the turnover of goods, despite the threat of potentially large-scale waste. To reverse this situation, the European Commission will likely have to implement intervention processes that will disturb free market principles to a greater or lesser extent.
This is the first article dedicated to the issue of environmental protection, recycling, and sustainable development in the food industry. Limiting negative climate changes, poverty, and environmental contamination are currently the most important goals of the European Commission. In the coming years, one of the industries most vulnerable to changes in European law will be those that focus on food producers, processors, and distributors.
As part of our plan, we will address selected aspects of building a sustainable food economy in subsequent publications in this series. Today, we will attempt to clarify the issue of food waste and the disposal of expired products and raw materials. We will discuss the disposal of food due to the failure to meet stringent standards concerning, among other things, the appearance of products. We will also mention the problem of discarding consumable products in the tourism and restaurant sectors. In future publications, we will tackle the issue of the relatively low scale of secondary raw material use and the lack of a closed-loop of raw materials in industrial and distribution processes. In our approach, we pay particular attention to the direction of change concerning the recycling of food packaging and the collection of organic secondary raw materials. We will also discuss the EU initiative on ESG (Environmental-Social Responsibility-Corporate Governance) and the closely related issue of responsibility for the natural environment and climate protection in the investment process and the related acquisition of funding sources. In subsequent publications, we will address the issue of widespread social awareness regarding the waste of natural resources, waste segregation, and the significance of social pressure on the creation of environmentally and climate-friendly European law.