A normal meal for a South Korean family of four creates 4.8 kilograms of carbon dioxide by the time the ingredients leave the farms, get cooked and reach the dining table, according to a government report released Tuesday.
The emitted amount is equivalent to what a pine tree takes in over the course of a year, the report by the Environment Ministry said.
The results were derived from a meal that consisted of rice, two different stews and roasted pork.
The same family on average throws out 438kg of food waste a year, emitting 724kg of greenhouse gases, the report said. This is equivalent to a
passenger car with a 2,000cc engine making five round-trips between Seoul and Busan. The two cities are 453km apart.
"If a family can reduce leftover food by 20 percent, the carbon dioxide emissions will decrease by 145kg a year, the amount taken in by 30 pine trees over a year," the report said.
If every citizen can manage to cut down food waste by 20 percent, the country will be able to cut down emissions by 1.77 million tons, it said.