The Impact of Food Wastage on Ecosystems

This project plan explores the impact of food wastage on ecosystems, including environmental sustainability and biodiversity. It discusses the importance of managing food waste and proposes a methodology for research.

Running head: PROJECT PLAN
THE IMPACT OF FOOD WASTAGE ON ECOSYSTEMS – PROJECT PLAN
Name of the Student
Name of the University
Author Note

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Table of Contents
Part B- Mind Map......................................................................................................................2
Part C:.........................................................................................................................................3
Project title:................................................................................................................................3
Project statement:.......................................................................................................................3
Rationale....................................................................................................................................3
Research question.......................................................................................................................4
Proposed Methodology..............................................................................................................5
Resource identification...............................................................................................................5
References..................................................................................................................................7
Appendix....................................................................................................................................8

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Part B- Mind Map

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Part C:
Project title: The impact of food Wastage on Ecosystem
Project statement:
The aim of the project is to identify the impact of food wastage on an ecosystem. This
is important to have a proper analysis of the environmental impacts of food wastage
(Augustin et al. 2016). Food wastage also leads to impact the environmental sustainability as
it generates methane that is a greenhouse gas. It is important to manage the food wastage, as
it possesses the potential of affecting the environment as well as can affect public health.
Apart from all this the main concern of food waste is the massive impact on the environment.
In order to manage the food waste huge land are required and the huge amount of waters are
also wasted on this purpose. This leads to several problems and impacts the environment in a
massive way. It becomes very important to maintain the food chain in order to have a proper
and balanced ecosystem. However with the food wastage concept the ecosystem gets
affected. A large number of resources are used for generating food and after this plenty of
food items are being wasted.
Rationale
This project was chosen because of the impact it created on the environment. Thus it
becomes important to understand the impact on society. Several nations have identified the
impacts one in nine people does not have sufficient food to lead a healthy life. On the other
hand one third of the foods are wasted (Bretschneider et al. 2017). With the loss of food the
nation suffers from famine and with huge economic loss. This causes huge damage around
the world. According to the survey made around 1.3 billion tons of food wasted all over the
world. Thus it becomes important to describe the problems faced with the wastage of food.

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This also leads to wastage of oil, gallons of diesel and other cooking materials. This also
leads to waste of land as the wasted foods are dumped in these fields. Apart from all this, the
food wastage also affects the diversity of the organism. Thus it impacts the ecosystem that
leads to a huge loss for the environment. This affects the biodiversity in a number of ways.
This includes deforestation as the natural flora and fauna get destroyed in order to create
more land for the production of food (Bretschneider et al. 2017). In order to increase
production of livestock, the natural lands are turned into pastures and this leads to impacting
the biodiversity. Every resource is important to be managed properly in order to have good
control over the ecosystem. Each and every component of the ecosystem are interconnected
with each other and thus needs to be maintained properly (Cicatiello et al. 2016).
It becomes important to use the resources properly so that foods can be saved for future
generation. According to the survey made food rots dumped in landfills lead to a generation
of methane gas. Thus, it becomes important to identify the possible impact of food wastage
on the ecosystem (Johnston 2016). The main reason behind discussing this topic is that food
wastage not only affects economic problem but also leads to environmental problems. This
uses a huge amount of water, fertilizer and land and thus it becomes important to have fertile
land. This will also affect environmental sustainability. Environmental sustainability is
referred to the rates of depletion of a non-renewable resource, renewable resource harvest,
and pollution creation that can be continued indefinitely (Newsome et al. 2015). Thus, it
becomes important to organize the food wastage well so that it does not affect the
sustainability of the environment.
Research question
Q1. Why is it important to manage food waste?
Q2. What are the impacts of food wastage on the ecosystem?

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Q3. How to manage the food wastage?
Q4. Why is food waste harmful to the environment?
Q5. What causes food wastage?
Proposed Methodology
In order to perform the research it becomes important to have a clear view of the impacts
caused by the food wastage. In order to understand the requirements data are collected with
the help of secondary data collection method is used (Palinkas et al. 2015). While performing
the secondary data collection method several articles and statistical data are being analysed
and are applied to the primary data. Data related to the impacts of food wastage on the
ecosystem are already being researched and analysed by several authors in their research
papers. For performing this project proposal the data collected by people are being analysed
properly so that the research can be made successfully (Sing, Semakula and Zhang, 2015).
While performing the secondary data analysis it is important to obtain the place from where
the data are being collected. The proposed methodology will help in providing a better
knowledge about the condition. While preparing the report several statistical data and
journals are reviewed in order to have proper knowledge about the impacts caused by food
wastage on the ecosystem and the effect on environmental sustainability.
Resource identification
The resources important for carrying out the project are people, funding's, proper
knowledge, articles regarding the food loss impacts and the storing of the food at a perfect
location. It is important to address the resources properly and utilize them (Palinkas et al.
2015). This resources will help the project to understand the effects and implement them.
Apart from this energy and resources conservation are important for protecting the food
wastage. A tracking facility is to be used in the system for the rectification of the

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environmental hazards taking place in the atmosphere. The items wasted should be properly
tracked in order to have proper control (Sing, Semakula and Zhang, 2015). Unfertile lands are
important so that they can be used as a dump yard and the methane produced from this needs
to be well so that it does not impact the normal livelihood. The resources are important for
having a clear view about the needs of the ecosystem and the people within the environment.
The resources would be providing proper information in the environment. Proper storage of
food will help in managing the food at the time of scarcity. Proper people are needed to
manage and locate the wastage of food (Augustin et al. 2016). Landfills are needed to be
investigated properly before using it as a dump yard. Nearby livelihoods need to be managed
properly so that it does not affect any lives.

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References
Augustin, M.A., Riley, M., Stockmann, R., Bennett, L., Kahl, A., Lockett, T., Osmond, M.,
Sanguansri, P., Stonehouse, W., Zajac, I. and Cobiac, L., 2016. Role of food processing in
food and nutrition security. Trends in Food Science & Technology, 56, pp.115-125.
Bretschneider, P.J., Cirilli, S., Jones, T., Lynch, S. and Wilson, N.A., 2017. Document review
as a qualitative research data collection method for teacher research. SAGE Publications
Ltd.
Cicatiello, C., Franco, S., Pancino, B. and Blasi, E., 2016. The value of food waste: An
exploratory study on retailing. Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services, 30, pp.96-104.
Johnston, M.P., 2017. Secondary data analysis: A method of which the time has
come. Qualitative and Quantitative Methods in Libraries, 3(3), pp.619-626.
Newsome, T.M., Dellinger, J.A., Pavey, C.R., Ripple, W.J., Shores, C.R., Wirsing, A.J. and
Dickman, C.R., 2015. The ecological effects of providing resource subsidies to
predators. Global Ecology and Biogeography, 24(1), pp.1-11.
Palinkas, L.A., Horwitz, S.M., Green, C.A., Wisdom, J.P., Duan, N. and Hoagwood, K.,
2015. Purposeful sampling for qualitative data collection and analysis in mixed method
implementation research. Administration and Policy in Mental Health and Mental Health
Services Research, 42(5), pp.533-544.
Song, G., Li, M., Semakula, H.M. and Zhang, S., 2015. Food consumption and waste and the
embedded carbon, water and ecological footprints of households in China. Science of the
Total Environment, 529, pp.191-197.

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Appendix
Link for the mind map is given below:
https://bubbl.us/NTAyMTUyMy85NjA5NDc4Lzc2Nzg3ZTBjMGQzZWFmNWY0YmY0MDk3MGJmOGY1NjU4-
X?utm_source=shared-link&utm_medium=link&s=9609478