Question

British environmentalist Kate Humble recently made the following statement: "Everyone's going to hate me and call me a middle-class mean person but I'm past caring because I'm so incensed. Food waste is endemic but we don't value food because it's not expensive enough."

Is Humble's statement economically correct? Explain your answer in detail.

Answer 1

Yes, the wasted food has no salvage/re-sale value.

Imagine you have another item such as a Luxury good or even old clothes, you will not be wasting them as you know that these can be re-sold for a certain value.

The problem with food is that it is a perishable quantity and often gets spolit before it can be used by somebody else.

Since, there does not exist any such market for food, it is often wasted, and this has become more prevalent amongst the Urban population.

Hope this helps!