The Negative Effects Of Animal Waste: The Waste Of Food

The typical food process begins at the farm and ends in the digestion of its consumers. Unfortunately, waste is the instigator that disrupts this process. It happens at all points in the process, but this paper specifically focuses on the waste of supermarkets. “An estimated 5.4 billion pounds of food. . . was discarded at the retail level in 1995” (Kantor et al.). If American supermarkets continue to increase the amounts of food they waste, then this waste must be converted into animal feed because it is the best and easiest solution to implement to help our environment and save money. The scary reality is that, according to the book American Wasteland: How America Throws Away Nearly Half of Its Food (and What We Can Do About It), “landfilling of food is on the rise – the rate doubled from 1980 to 2007” (Bloom 15). This reality leads to a number of negative consequences such as an increase in methane production and pollution. “Most food waste, approximately 33 million tons, is disposed in landfills, costing $750 million and accounting for 25% of U.S methane emissions” (Uga.edu). With such a huge problem, it makes people wonder how the problem got this bad. It has grown to this extent for a number of reasons. The ways in which supermarkets dispose of their food is surprising. “Some loss occurs in storage, due to insect infestations or

Acuff, a student at California State Polytechnic, he describes the capabilities of the BioGreen360. He states in the paper that “pigs were chosen to consume the digested food waste because they have a robust, monogastric digestive system that can efficiently digest a wide span of ingredients” (Acuff). The “product tested was a good source of protein (amino acids), minerals, and fat for the pigs” (Acuff) It was also high fat content which is usually expensive in animal feed. Taking advantage of a product such as this shows great potential for helping the environment and saving a great amount of