SAVE FOOD - SAVE PLANET

Food is the substance which is needed for survival by everyone on Earth. But on other side it is also wasted in tonnes in our daily routine. Food left over on your plate; too much food prepared and not used; food past its sell-by date; food past its use-by date; food gone off. These all generally land up in the dustbin!

Many of us don't give a thought to the quantity of food we waste daily, weekly monthly and yearly. We may think about it for a moment when we're scraping the leftovers off the plate, or when we dump some rot fruit in the bin. But it has become so "normal" to throw food away that we just do not give it any real thought, and we do not think how the quantities add up over the year. But this is very much harmful for our planet.

 The environmental dilemma behind food waste concerns all of the natural resources that are intensively used in food production.When we waste food, we waste resources and wasting resources is the biggest threat in a global sense. Producing food and bringing it to the consumers requires a lot of resources, which are used for agricultural raw material production, for processing, for transportation, for distribution. Wasting food implies wasting all these resources. Food waste means water and energy waste, material waste. We should try to save our natural resources by not wasting our food and if food is in excess so we should recycle it.

Nowadays, recycling of paper and yard waste has become increasingly routine, removing food waste from the trash stream cost very high. This is an issue not only with regard to trash costs, but for environmental reasons. In landfills, food waste begins quickly to rot and generate methane. This gas is a greenhouse gas far more potent than carbon dioxide. It is the result of the anaerobic decomposition that occurs because municipal solid waste is buried and does not receive oxygen. Food waste landfill sites are source of methane which is harmful for our planet.

Instead of wasting our plant-based resources, we can recycle them into compost and use that compost to grow our food and beautify our gardens. Compost helps replace top soil,  a resource that washes away in amazing quantities every year and is not being replaced. We can also focus on smart shopping by planning meals and making lists about what we actually need to purchase.

We can limit our portion sizes and increase our knowledge of food. We can also volunteer at food recovery programs that redistribute extra food to people in need. Food is precious gift given by good but some people are unable to get food so we should thankful to God for this and should try to not to waste the food.  Food wastage is also very harmful to our planet to save our planet we should avoid those things which are harmful for our planet because out of all planet life is only on earth so, it is considered as our home so we should take care of our home and keep it clean and green.

This composition won "Bronze Medal" in HRCA Essay Competition.

Ailya Kazmi

XI- C

BSS North Nazimabad Cambridge Branch