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浪费并非中国独有 看世界如何“光盘”
Growing appetite to cut back on food wastage

[ 2013-02-17 12:24] 来源:中国日报网     字号 [] [] []  
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In the United States

In the US, $165 billion is spent every year producing food that never gets consumed. So where does the land of fiscal cliffs and budget cuts stand on the issue of food wastage?

According to a 2012 study by the Natural Resources Defense Council, US citizens wasted around 40 percent of all edible food. In addition to burdening people's bank accounts, food wastage also results in a wide range of other costs.

Neglected food wastes 25 percent of all freshwater used in the US and 4 percent of total US oil consumption. It costs $750 million just to dispose of the food, and the ensuing 33 million tons of landfill waste accounts for millions of tons of greenhouse gas emissions. If just 15 percent of the wasted food were saved, it would be enough to feed 25 million people in the US.

"Not wasting food in the first place is, of course, the best solution both environmentally and economically speaking," said Matt de la Houssaye, program associate for the Coalition for Resource Recovery, or CoRR, office in New York, which works to establish common frameworks for collection and recovery systems for food waste in urban environments.

To do this, CoRR, a subsidiary of Global Green USA, seeks partnerships and reports on innovations in the field to spread ideas and unite communities to create efficient and environmentally sound food consumption and disposal practices.

Among a growing list of company partnerships, restaurant chain Pret A Manger has teamed up with CoRR to examine ways of averting 75 percent of the company's total generated waste and also to establish recycling facilities for 80 percent of its stores.

Pret's motto, "Made today (gone today)", reflects the fact that the food it sells is made to suit the prevailing conditions, thus cutting waste to a minimum.

In its recycling scheme, Pret shops have introduced "co-mingled" recycling where one bin is separated into four separate containers for food, plastic and cans, boxes and cups and all other trash. The system allows for simpler separation of various types of waste, which is later processed at a recycling plant.

"There's actually been a great growth of interest in the commercial sector and among community members in addressing food-waste issues," said Houssaye.

New York-based actress and mother Laura Sametz would attest to this. When her son entered public school on the upper west side of Manhattan, she was shocked at how little attention was paid to "green" practices.

Consequently, Sametz joined the school's parent teacher association and started a campaign to raise awareness of environmental issues such as food waste.

She also joined four other concerned mothers in Manhattan's District 3 school area to pilot a composting program in eight schools. The pilot allowed them to test the viability of separating and composting food waste, including meat and dairy, kitchen scraps and sugarcane food service trays.

The result was an 85 percent reduction in overall garbage generation, and the number of garbage bags used in each cafeteria every day was reduced to eight from 54.

If the program is expanded across the entire school system, the total saving on garbage bags is estimated at more than $1 million annually, with an additional saving of approximately $1.1 million in garbage disposal fees.

The initiative caught the attention and approval of the New York City Department of Sanitation, which has now assumed responsibility for its operation and development. At present, more than 40 schools, and counting, are using the compost program.

"I believe change begins in the school," said Sametz. "When the students learn, it begins a ripple effect and when the parents take notice, so does the government."

 

在美国每年的食物浪费高达1650亿美元。面对如此巨大的食物浪费何谈悬崖财政计划?

依据自然资源保护委员会2012年的研究显示,美国公民浪费 食物占所有可食用食物的40%。食物浪费除了增加了民众的经济负担外,还浪费了很多各种宝贵的资源, 比如浪费食物消耗了25% 的水, 4%的油。用于处理食物垃圾的资金高达7.5亿美元,形成了3300万吨地上垃圾同时增加了上千万吨的碳排放。仅仅这些浪费食物中的15%如果没被扔掉,就够养活2500万美国人。

Matt de la Houssaye,纽约一个资源回收组织的副项目官,认为首要的做法当然是不去浪费,去探讨如何在城市环境中建立食物垃圾收集和回收系统。他说,餐厅连锁企业Pret A Manger 与他们合作已经成功的把Pret A Manger 75%的食物垃圾进行了转化同时在企业所在的80%的商店都安装了回收设备。

Pret A Manger 的口号就是今天做的食物全都卖光,他们通过准备适量的食物进而把浪费减少到最低。

在回收环节上Pret也进行很好的分类,把食物垃圾也分类,这一方法也在各个居民区得到了很好的而实行。

纽约的演员Laura Sametz,同时她也是一位母亲,就是一位减少食物浪费的实践者。当她儿子刚进入曼哈顿一所公立学校的时候,她被那里对于环保,诸如食物浪费的默然感到震惊。为此,她想要做些改变所以加入了学校的家长和老师联合会去倡导如何提高大家的节俭和环保意识。

她的一些做法最初只在一个学校开展,但随着效果明显,已经在很多学校中陆续开展起来,同时也引起了纽约卫生部门的重视。

Sametz说:“我相信当改变发生在学校,孩子们学会了就会去引导家长,这种传统效应影响到政府进而全社会。”

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(来源:China Daily  编辑:Julie)

 

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