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Energy Extraction From Toxic Waste Originating From Food Processing Industries 21

Fig. 3.1 FEW nexus in food production and waste management phases [1].

for increased agricultural production, and there is less food waste and food
waste contamination to be managed. The layout of the FEW nexus model
is shown in Fig 3.1.

3.5 REDUCING FOOD WASTE: A PROBLEM OF HUMAN
BEHAVIOR

As discussed above, a large proportion of food waste in industrialized na-
tions is generated by consumers. In past analyses, the vast quantities of food
wasted in the United States have been regarded as just one more element
of the modern “throwaway society,” a culture of wastefulness spawned by
rising affluence and a general indifference to larger issues of consumption,
overconsumption, globalized capitalism, and environmental degradation. In
the past few years, a substantial literature has emerged on personal, social,
and demographic aspects of household food waste, containing useful empir-
ical clues about how to change wasteful behaviors. One critically important
theme is that food waste is the consequence of household food provisioning
routines, contingencies that result from busy and hurried lives, social rela-
tionships and conventions that surround the traditions of the “family meal,”
and larger social aspects of contemporary food practice [1].
Management of food waste and related contaminants following disposal
involves unknown quantities of water and energy, magnitudes of which
perhaps vary widely depending on the waste management mechanism or