You’re not alone. We’ve all done it, tossed something we swore we’d finish, let leftovers sit too long, forgotten a bag of lettuce in the back of the fridge. It’s easy to think one sandwich, one apple, one takeout container won’t make a difference, but it does. Not just because of the food itself, but because of everything it took to get that food to you: water, labor, fuel, time. When it ends up in the trash, it doesn’t disappear. It ends up in landfills, releasing methane into the air and adding to a climate problem that already feels too big. But that’s the thing: big problems don’t get solved all at once. They improve when lots of people make small changes. When we stop and think before we buy or pause before we toss. When we eat the leftovers, freeze what we won’t use, or grab the slightly spotty banana instead of reaching for the perfect one.
This isn’t a guilt trip. It’s an invitation. A reminder that you have power, not just as a consumer, but as someone who can notice, adjust, and act with intention. Food is too precious to waste, and your choices matter more than you think.
Note from the Author:
“To Anyone Who’s Ever Thrown Out a Half-Eaten Sandwich” was originally written as one of seven pieces for a creative writing project centered on writing for change. I chose to focus on food waste, a topic that first stood out to me during an environmental science class, when I learned about the scale at which food is wasted and the weight that it carries. This piece is meant to bring quiet attention to that reality, not through statistics, but through emotion. The goal is not to shame the reader, but to create a gentle call to awareness—something personal, reflective, and hopefully, lasting.
Tahlia Brayer is pursuing a bachelor's in Education and Human Development.