Approximately one-third of the food produced around the world is wasted, meaning that almost half of the food produced is lost during production, processing or consumption (Corrado, S., et. al. 2019). Some food is discarded because of its appearance, if a fruit or vegetable does not fit the typical formation commonly seen, it is often thrown out by the producer because it does not meet the standards set for shape, size, and color despite that it is completely fine to consume. In the United States, 40% of all food is wasted at some point along with the production to the consumer timeline (Macleis, 2019). Globally, food is viewed as a “disposable commodity,” it is prevalently available because of excessive production levels (Carolsfeld & Erikson, 2013). Dumpster diving is an alternative solution to spending money at grocery stores and reducing the waste of un-parished food.
References
Carolsfeld, A. Lúcia, & Erikson, S. L. (2013). Beyond Desperation: Motivations for Dumpster™
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Corrado, S., Caldeira, C., Eriksson, M., Hanssen, O. Jørgen, Hauser, H., van Holsteijn, F., Liu,
G., Östergren, K., Parry, A., Secondi, L., Stenmarck, Å., & Sala, S. (2019). Food waste
accounting methodologies: Challenges, opportunities, and further advancements.
Global food security, 20, 93-100. doi: 10.1016/j.gfs.2019.01.002
Macleish, C. (2019, February 14). I Am A Dumpster Diver. Here's What I've Learned. Retrieved
from https://www.huffpost.com/entry/dumpster-diving-food-waste_n_
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