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PRESENTATION OUTLINE

Food Waste

Environmental Impacts of 
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A Global Issue

(NYTimes, Feb. 2015)
1/3 of all food produced in the world is never consumed.
About 60 million metric tons of food is wasted a year in the US, and about 32 million metric tons of it end up in municipal landfills.
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Food Waste in Landfills

(NYTimes, Feb. 2015).
Most food waste is thrown away in landfills, where it decomposes and emits methane and carbon dioxide.
Globally, it creates 3.3 billion metric tons of greenhouse gases annually, about 7% of the total emissions, according to the report.
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Decomposition

(Article published by the EPA) Food waste is comprised of cellulose and hemicellulose.
These compounds are converted to CH4 and CO2 by bacteria under anaerobic conditions.

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Other Impacts

Produced but uneaten food occupies almost 1.4 billion hectares of land, which is nearly 30% of the world’s agricultural land area.
Globally, the the consumption of surface and groundwater resources of food wastage is about 250 cubic kilometers