[OPINIONATED] The Environmental Costs of Fast Food
The Environmental Costs of Fast Food
By: Haerim Park
Agricultural Production
The backbone of the fast food industry lies in its agricultural supply chains. Processing ingredients like meat, potatoes, and grains requires lots of natural resources.
- Meat Production: The most critical environmental impact comes from meat production. Meat production causes severe environmental degradation through livestock farming, a significant cause of deforestation. In the Amazon rainforest, huge tracts of land are cleared to raise pasture for cattle. Deforestation results in habitat loss and reduces biodiversity. Furthermore, large amounts of greenhouse gasses are produced from livestock farming. For example, cows produce dangerous GHGs such as methane when digesting food in their stomach. Meat production also has a high water-usage factor. It takes about 1,800 gallons of water to produce one pound of beef, compared to 200 gallons that can grow a pound of vegetables.
- Crop Production: Planting crops for the production of fast foods is environmentally disastrous. Intensive monoculture farming methods are frequently employed to meet high demands for crops such as potatoes for fries and wheat for hamburgers, deplete soil nutrients, and encourage excessive usage of chemical fertilizers and pesticides. These may leach to the waterways and flow back to the supply systems, causing water pollution and destruction of aquatic life.
Fast-food supply chains are global and highly complex in particular. Sometimes, most ingredients have to be shipped from distant parts of the world, requisitioning a great deal of transportation.
- Carbon Emissions: Movements of ingredients from farms to processing stations to restaurants incur heavy carbon emissions and the production of greenhouse gasses. For instance, transporting one container of goods from one country to another produces a lot of CO2, significantly contributing to the total carbon footprint of fast food.
- Energy Consumption: Several stages of energy-intensive processes are used in the supply chain of putting refrigerated and preserved ingredients in place. The cooling systems in cold storage facilities and vehicles also consume large amounts of energy, pumping more carbon, an alarming concern for the environment that this industry was already blamed for.
Packaging Waste
Almost all junk food is served in disposable packaging. This results in a high waste volume.
- Plastic and Paper Waste: Things like wrappers, containers, straws, and utensils are, in most cases, made of plastic or paper. Whereas paper is biodegradable, plastic waste may stay in the environment for hundreds of years. Most fast-food outlets have plastic packaging that is either not recyclable or only partially recyclable. Consequently, most plastics end up in landfills or as litter, contributing to environmental pollution.
- Food Waste: The fast food industry generates a lot of food waste. Overproduction, mismanagement of inventory, and consumer behavior result in wasted food that is mostly dumped into landfills. As food decomposes in landfills, it releases methane, which warms the atmosphere 25 times faster than CO2, contributing to the acceleration of global climate change.
Fast food waste also leads to other issues regarding waste management.
- Sorting and Recycling Issues: Most fast-food restaurants have a limited ability to sort out and recycle their waste. Food residue, which sticks in its packaging, affects the recycling process and becomes a challenge to distinguish that from recyclable waste.
- Inadequate Waste Management Systems: The given infrastructure in certain locations may be unable to collect and process waste from food shops. Hence, incorrect dumping methods further increase the scale of environmental pollution.
Sourcing Sustainably
- Reduce Meat Consumption: The first is to reduce dependence on meat and encourage alternatives by increasing the sale of plant-based options. Fast food chains have already started to include plant-based burgers and other dishes that have considerably less environmental impact. By switching to low-carbon protein sources like beans and lab-grown meats, the sector can reduce greenhouse gasses by as much as 80 percent and cut down water usage by half.
- Environmentally Sustainable Agriculture: Crop rotation, organic farming, and reduced use of pesticides/insecticides are some sustainable farming practices that would reduce the impact of crop production on the environment. Support for suppliers who operate these practices will lessen the general ecological footprint of fast food ingredients.
- Single-Use Plastics Reduction: Packing innovation can help limit and eradicate single-use plastics in fast-food chains. That could be in biodegradable materials, reusable containers, or compostable packaging. Another is encouraging customers to bring their own containers, and using bulk dispensers for condiments to reduce the use of packaging.
- Improving the Recycling System: Better waste management through effective sorting systems and facilities for recycling can boost the rate of recycling. Fast food houses may also educate consumers about proper disposal and encourage recycling programs.
- Energy-Use Optimization: Fast food houses could practice and apply energy-efficient methods and technologies. This would encompass energy-saving devices, appliances, and renewable sources of energy. Reduced energy consumption in the processes of cooking, refrigeration, and lighting would bring down the general environmental impact of fast food centers.
- Waste reduction: Implementation of programs to reduce waste via inventory control, right-sizing portions, and managed sharing of left-over or excess food through donations may reduce the amount of waste going to the landfill. Stimulation of customers to take the consumable amounts and the availability of composting options will further minimize the waste.
- Consumer Education: Consumer education about the impacts of fast food on the environment could go a long way in changing consumer behavior. Educational campaigns can make them open to choosing greener, plant-based meals or supporting the patronage of outlets with green practices.
- Help Green Brands: One way the consumer can make a difference is by supporting fast food chains that believe in sustainability. Only by patronizing the establishments that have indeed shown some commitment to reducing their potential environmental impact may a lot of other companies be encouraged to toe the line.
Sources Cited
"Environmental Impacts of Meat Production." Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, 2020, www.fao.org/3/i3437e/i3437e.pdf.
Shapiro. "Fast Food's Contribution to Food Waste." Shapiroe.com, https://shapiroe.com/blog/junk-food-waste/#:~:text=An%20increased%20number%20of%20fast%20food%20chains%20are,reusable%20containers%2C%20and%20working%20with%20waste%20management%20companies.
"Making Fast Food Chains More Sustainable." Environment.co, Climate Change Articles, https://environment.co/making-fast-food-chains-more-sustainable/
"Food System Impacts on Biodiversity Loss." Chatham House – International Affairs Think Tank, https://www.chathamhouse.org/2021/02/food-system-impacts-biodiversity-loss
"Challenges in Packaging Waste Management in the Fast Food Industry." ScienceDirect, https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0921344907001620
"The Drive Toward Sustainable Packaging." McKinsey, www.mckinsey.com.
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