G06: I&S From Little Things, Big Things Grow: 1. Food Waste

Chinese consumers wasted roughly 17 to 18 million tons of food served in big cities in 2015, a quantity sufficient to feed 30 to 50 million individuals annually, according to a report released at a seminar Saturday in Beijing.

Most people don't realize how much food they throw away every day — from uneaten leftovers to spoiled produce. About 94 percent of the food we throw away ends up in landfills or combustion facilities.

From community food banks to food waste kitchens and even a supermarket, the Danes have embraced the concept

Start at 1:00. Radio Program from the BBC where Tristram Stuart reports on the latest ideas to tackle our growing mountains of food waste by thinking creatively and producing good food from surplus produce.

The man behind a warehouse teeming with the much-despised insects claims his new recycling method could be a blueprint for future waste management.

Your coffee pods could be contributing to a global environmental disaster, with billions of the sleek aluminium and plastic capsules ending up in landfill in America, Europe and Australia each year.

The K-Cup backlash has prompted the disposable coffee system’s inventor to change his tune.

The German city of Hamburg has banned coffee pods from state-run buildings as part of an environmental drive to reduce waste. Should others follow suit?

"Coffee drinkers’ love of an easy fix has created a multibillion-dollar market for single-serve coffee cups and the machines that brew them. It has also created a mountain of eternal garbage."

We now produce enough food for everyone on the planet today. But we’re losing millions of acres of native grassland in the US to agriculture in areas like the Northern Great Plains. Producing enough food while limiting our impact on the environment is one of the biggest challenges of our time.

Have you ever let a piece of fruit grow moldy in your refrigerator, simply because you forgot it was there? Have you ever thrown away a can of soup because it was past the “best by” date stamped on the label? Have you ever wondered what happens to all of the produce in the supermarket that goes unsold, or what your favorite restaurant does with all of their leftovers at the end of the day?

It's estimated that up to 40% of food in the U.S. goes to waste every year. Globally, the amount of discarded food would be enough to feed 1 billion people annually. This excess comes with some serious consequences, which is why we all need to do our part to reduce food waste.