Recently there has been a large movement in the UK government to spread awareness about the importance of food waste. Not only does food waste account for a large percentage of the rubbish which ends up in landfills, but when it breaks down it produces methane which is far more harmful to the environment than carbon. Both Hilary Benn and Gordon Brown spoke publically about the need for Brits to stop wasting so much food, and many have suggested that it will soon be illegal to dump food waste into landfills. There are many reasons for the excess food, most of them revolving around the extreme ease that the western world now lives in, as well as several business practices which lead to excess food. Advances in agricultural technology and productivity, coupled with the prosperity of the western world have made wasted food an unfortunate byproduct of modern culture.
Because of advances in farming we can now produce food very cheaply, which has led to reduced prices at the grocery stores. These reduced prices lead to people buying more food than they really need, and often when these customers think they are getting a deal by buying in bulk, they are actually costing themselves more money in the form of waste. In the UK alone more than eight million tonnes of food are thrown out every year and most of this food is completely edible. Not only is this a slap in the face to those who do not have enough to eat, but it also costs billions of pounds that go largely unnoticed by consumers.
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