Our garbage could save millions of lives...

Our garbage...our food waste...would almost certainly be enough to end world hunger. I feel confident that every state, and maybe even every major city, produces millions of pounds of food waste every single day. That wasted food goes to feed rats and other vermin we would rather *not* feed in dumps and landfills, while humans we would rather feed are starving. Much of the nutrition which makes life possible--any amount or form of which is rare and treasured to hungry people all over this planet--has become nothing but a problem to get rid of for those of us fortunate enough to have the "problem". Even if only a small percentage of the people who have the problem were to participate in organized group efforts, it's almost certain that a large percentage of world hunger and starvation could be reduced or eliminated. The garbage from McDonald's alone could save how many human lives?

How to do it? Organization and agreement to commit to the projects would be a first step. What to commit to would of course be a necessary consideration. How to store, transfer and sanitize the waste food would be some of the biggest obstacles to overcome. Making regular use of food grinders, dehydrators, possibly crushers of some sort, probably UV sanitizing methods, and packaging systems would be required on both the private and commercial participant level. Collection and distribution would be on a bigger scale, and would require properly developed business level organizations and facilities in order to make productive use of what so many of us consider to be waste. Some sort of incentive to participate besides simply providing life for other humans would probably also be required, or else systems such as that would have been established and working for years already.

How to begin? The first thing would be to accept the idea that it would be possible, and could be made practical and maybe even beneficial to those who are willing to participate. It would probably have to begin on a small scale, with groups of interested people working together to help select other groups and individuals in their local areas. It needs to be kept in mind that those who would survive and benefit from such a change in the thinking and efforts of those who could help them, would be dependant on the stability of the system.

But there's already a surplus of food. So would it be a waste of time? Even if we could dry, sanitize and package millions of pounds of nutrition from our food waste every day, would it be of no real value? Are people who are starving just going to have to continue to starve, regardless of how much extra food more fortunate people have to deal with? Would they just become another dependancy...more trouble than it would be worth? Or could it be practical to put together a system like that?

Reply to
dh
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*snip*

And who is going to pay the bill when some yahoo sues for $1.2 million, because he ate a stale muffin and threw up? The amount of food that gets thown away from grocery stores and Warehouse grocery stores is obscene. They can't even give the food to foodbanks or homeless shelters, they have to throw it away. The reason they do it is because they could be sued out of existance by any idiot who ate some past-due food and decided he wanted to scam the system, and sue for a million or two.

Reply to
Caya

Brings back fond (no, really!) memories of dumpster-diving back in the

70's at a local grocer. *One* day outdated dairy products, refrigerator biscuits, etc.? Hell, yes!
Reply to
Dave Bell

Reminds me of a time several years ago when I was delivering 100LB bags of flour to a commercial bakery in GA. 2 of the bags had developed small leaks due to the stitching coming loose or from the corner of the bag rubbing against the trailer wall. The bakery rejected the 2 bags but offered to dispose of them for me. My company said to slice the bags open & empty them into a dumpster. I called the local food bank & offered to bring them over, nothing wrong with the flour. They said they would they would only take undamaged bags with no leakage. I guess beggars can be choosers

Reply to
Roughrider50

Awhile back, I had to clear my kitchen & pantry of anything with gluten in it since I can't have gluten anymore. Lots of opened items had to be thrown out. And the rest resulted in an unexpectedly large amount of food for a local food pantry. It was about 3/4 canned & jarred goods and 1/4 boxed items like pasta. When I dropped off my large donation, the manager asked me for my name and address so she could send me a "thank you note", she said. I told her that was entirely unnecessary. Finally she said she had to have it in case anything was wrong with the food! Everything was sealed in its original package but I confess that I did worry for a time and it's made me think twice about donating food to pantries.

Emma

Reply to
Emma Thackery

...

Don't sweat it. "Anything wrong with the food" is a euphemism for deliberately poisoned. Asking is a good way to prevent foul play.

Jerry

Reply to
Jerry Avins

If anybody thinks they have a solution to this I'll bet it starts with the elimination of bureaucratic control over the food supply. Not that we shouldn't have standards and inspections, but real hunger demands real food and not real obstruction. I personally have thrown into dumpsters great pans of freshly-prepared (by licensed caterers and restaurants) meats and vegetables because I couldn't get anybody to take them. I called every food kitchen in town and got "No" for an answer every time. Polite "No", but "No" just the same. I've also seen fields of high-quality vegetables rotting on the vine because the organizations that could use them just wouldn't come get them. I've hunted game birds in fields with the farmer/owner as my hunting partner and asked him why these tons of produce were just lying there in the sun. His reply was that he made an annual practice of offering his fields to gleaners and food kitchens after the main picking was complete, and had as yet had no takers. Amazing! Tons of food for free and nobody would take it!

I didn't get any pheasants that hunting trip, but I did come home with a dozen excellent acorn squash.

John

Reply to
John Gonser

So those people who were too busy to come pick the food were bureaucrats? Maybe we need more bureaucrats so they won't all be so overworked.

Jerry

Reply to
Jerry Avins

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