Food Waste Collection Software for a Better Environment and Easy Management

A staggering amount of food goes to waste each year. According to World Food Programme, one-third of food is lost or wasted globally, annually 1.3 billion tons per year, approximately $1 trillion! All of this waste ends up in trash cans, garbage containers, and, eventually, landfills.

Naturally, when dealing with the waste collection of this magnitude, one cannot simply rely on traditional methods — and what better way is there than having food waste collection software do the job for you!

Harms of Food Waste on the Environment

According to FoodPrint.org, the US wastes about 40 percent of its food, and much of the 125 to 160 billion pounds of food that goes to waste every year globally is perfectly edible. Furthermore, the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) has stated that food wastage (excluding fish and seafood) costs the global economy roughly 750 Billion US dollars annually. 

Some of the other critical facts and statistics about food waste say that:

• 1.4 billion hectares of land — 28 percent of the world’s agricultural area — is used annually to produce food that is lost or wasted;
• When food is wasted, the natural resources that are used in its production are thrown out the window along with it (for example, the water used for irrigation, land for planting, fuel for powering harvest and transport vehicles);
• If we continue down this path, reports estimate that in ten years, we will be wasting the equivalent of 66 tons of food per second across the globe.

But perhaps the most important and disastrous consequence of all is that when the thrown-away food in landfills starts decomposing, they release methane, a greenhouse gas that is at least 28 times more potent than carbon dioxide. And even though carbon dioxide is the most commonly emitted greenhouse gas in terms of quantity, methane makes up around 20% of all greenhouse gas emissions. 

The only way this horrible food wastage can be reduced is if the consumers, retailers and other entities involved in food production/transportation come to realize the consequences of their actions. Even in that utopian scenario, however, there will still be a tremendous amount of waste left to be collected. Moreover, their management will still be up to governments or businesses operating in the waste management industry.

Food Waste Collection Software

The reasons listed above are only a handful of the many consequences caused by reckless consumption and undermanaged food waste collection. If the party responsible for the waste management were to switch to smart management, though, they could immensely reduce:

• The risk of ridding the world of its already scarce resources
• Polluting the environment
• Contributing to climate change.

A waste management software offers efficient data collection from your garbage trucks as well as its drivers, vehicle tracking, route optimization, and so many more amazing opportunities.