Today, waste stands before us as a major problem on a global scale. Of course, the most visible dimension of waste is generally discussed in relation to food waste. For example, according to data from the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), approximately 1.3 billion tons of food are wasted worldwide every year. This amount corresponds to nearly one third of global food production. FAO estimates place the annual economic cost of this waste at over $1 trillion. Considering that around 800 million people worldwide lack access to sufficient food, the extent to which global inequalities have become striking is clearly evident.

According to the Food Waste Index Report published by the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) in 2021, approximately %61 of global food waste occurs at the household level, %26 in the food service sector, and %13 at the retail stage. This data is significant because it shows that the problem has become a widespread and deeply embedded behavioral pattern. On the other hand, waste is not merely a moral issue; it also generates substantial environmental costs. When FAO and UNEP data are considered together, it becomes clear that roughly %8 to %10 of global greenhouse gas emissions stem from food loss and waste. In this context, the cost of waste is profound. Every wasted product represents not only an item thrown away, but also wasted water, energy, fertilizer, soil, and human labor. For example, according to FAO data, approximately %24 of the water used globally for agriculture is ultimately consumed in the production of food that is later wasted.

When we look at Türkiye, the picture is not independent of global trends. Various academic studies and public data indicate that approximately 19-20 million tons of food are wasted annually in Türkiye. Data from the Turkish Statistical Institute (TurkStat) and studies conducted by the Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry reveal that waste is particularly concentrated in bread, vegetables, and fruit. Millions of loaves of bread are discarded every day without being consumed. Water waste, however, has an even more critical dimension. Reports by the General Directorate of State Hydraulic Works and various research studies show that Türkiye’s per capita annual usable water availability has declined to around 1,300 cubic meters, placing the country at the threshold of water stress. Despite this, significant amounts of water are wasted due to inefficient irrigation practices in agriculture, uncontrolled consumption in urban areas, and agricultural methods that undermine efficiency. Given that the agricultural sector accounts for approximately %70 of total water use in Türkiye, inefficiency in this area becomes directly linked to food security.

The issue of waste is not limited to food alone. Electronic waste constitutes another rapidly growing problem area. According to the United Nations’ Global E-waste Monitor, more than 50 million tons of electronic waste are generated worldwide each year, and only about %17 of it is recycled. In Türkiye, the annual volume of electronic waste has exceeded 1 million tons. Because a significant portion of this waste contains heavy metals and toxic substances, it poses serious risks to both the environment and human health.

At the current juncture, unless we address this problem with due seriousness – one that entrenches social inequalities, erodes economic growth, and deepens environmental vulnerabilities – it seems inevitable that we will encounter similar deadlocks across many areas of the future. The problem is multidimensional, and so are the effects it generates. For this reason, explaining waste solely through bad habits or a lack of awareness is insufficient to understand why it has become so widespread and persistent. The core issue lies in the fact that modern lifestyles have systematically weakened the link between the individual and society, and between consumption and responsibility. Any assessment that ignores the cultural and moral background of this problem will therefore remain incomplete. In this context, for example, Richard Sennett’s analyses of modern social structures – particularly his observations on the decline of the public individual – emphasize that the sense of responsibility individuals feel toward the public sphere has gradually diminished. According to Sennett, the modern capitalist order detaches individuals from long-term commitments, a sense of responsibility, and responsibility-based relationships with others. This rupture affects not only politics or working life, but also everyday consumption practices directly.

When the responsibility-based public individual is replaced by a consumer profile built on instant gratification, speed, and continuous consumption, waste becomes an almost inevitable outcome. In this new lifestyle, the objects, foods, or resources that are used are no longer perceived as the products of a chain of labor and public value; instead, they are seen as consumption tools that are easily accessible, easily purchased, and easily discarded. In such a context, the boundary between need and desire becomes blurred; excess is normalized, and waste is rendered invisible. This cultural transformation is continuously reinforced by the economic system itself. Modern production and marketing structures encourage rapid consumption and frequent replacement. Planned obsolescence, aggressive advertising strategies, and the constant promotion of "the newer” turn waste into a structural feature of both material goods and food. Unfortunately, it is becoming increasingly difficult for individuals to resist this cycle.

Another important factor is the growing distance between production and consumption. People today largely lack knowledge about how, where, and under what conditions the products they consume are produced. This detachment from agricultural production processes leads food to be perceived merely as a commodity on a shelf, which in turn increases food waste in particular. As production processes become invisible, respect for labor and resources also weakens. Consequently, waste is not simply the result of individual error or ignorance. In a system where the responsibility-based public individual has retreated, consumption has become a way of life, production processes are obscured, and institutional coordination is weak, waste emerges almost as a natural output of the system itself. For this reason, solutions cannot rely solely on appeals to individual behavior; they require a multilayered transformation that rebuilds public responsibility, redefines consumption, and places a shared awareness of common resources at its center.

When it comes to Türkiye's own context, despite the fact that the country historically and culturally belongs to a value system in which waste is explicitly condemned, the widespread nature of similar behavioral patterns points to a different kind of transformation. In Islamic thought, waste is not regarded merely as a moral weakness; it is treated as a form of behavior with legal, social, and economic consequences. More importantly, this perspective does not confine waste to the narrow act of throwing things away. Consumption itself is defined in a close relationship with the concept of need. Any consumption that goes beyond necessity is, in effect, considered waste. This represents a framework fundamentally different from modern capitalist notions of consumption. Under these circumstances, the growing prevalence of waste in our society is not a simple contradiction, but rather a surface symptom of a deep social transformation that requires serious reflection.

First of all, we need to draw attention to the rupture between the preservation of values and the living of values. Although society still defines waste at a normative level as wrong, shameful, or sinful, consumption behaviors at the practical level often move in the opposite direction. What we observe is not so much the complete abandonment of values, but rather their neutralization in everyday life. In other words, the problem lies less in the absence of values than in their loss of power to guide behavior at the individual – and ultimately social – level. Even though opposition to waste continues to exist as a strong discourse, this discourse is rarely embedded in a framework that is supported, regulated, and enforced through production, planning, urbanization, agriculture, energy, and consumption policies. As a result, moral language remains largely symbolic. As Alev Alatlı, a distinguished late Turkish thinker, has pointed out, the terrain of conflict between what is legal and what is halal has been expanding. Ultimately, when values do not translate into concrete mechanisms that regulate everyday life, they often remain no more than moral reminders. In such cases, "lisan-ı hal," a Turkish expression meaning "the language of one’s state/condition, inevitably becomes more eloquent than lisan-ı kal.

On the other hand, the concept of need itself has undergone a transformation. In traditional Islamic ethics, need is associated with sustaining life, preserving dignity, and continuing one’s existence without disrupting social balance. In the modern consumer society, however, need has been redefined – as Sennett also emphasizes – largely in terms of desires, status symbols, and comparative lifestyles. Not having is coded as deficiency, and consuming less is framed as backwardness. In such an environment, waste ceases to be a moral problem and becomes a normalized way of life.

Most importantly, responsibility has been detached from both the individual and the public context. In traditional society, waste is not merely a matter concerning the individual alone; it is a form of behavior that affects the family, the neighborhood, society, and ultimately the public sphere. In modern society, however, consumption – as noted above – is confined to a realm of personal choice disconnected from responsibility. Within an economic order that constantly encourages consumption, measures growth through spending, and fails to reward saving and moderation, it becomes increasingly difficult to expect individuals to act in accordance with their values. A system that on the one hand declares waste to be wrong, while on the other relentlessly stimulates consumption, pushes individuals into a contradictory moral position. Over time, this contradiction is resolved through indifference, and waste becomes normalized.

For this reason, explaining the spread of waste in Türkiye through a superficial diagnosis, such as a society alienated from its values, is insufficient. A more accurate assessment is to acknowledge that we are at a threshold where values remain legitimate, yet have lost the institutional, cultural, and economic foundations necessary to guide behavior. There is no way out of this situation merely by calling on individuals not to waste. What is required is to rethink the concept of need, to redefine consumption as a public issue as much as a moral one, and to transform values from abstract discourse into organizing principles of everyday life. Otherwise, possessing a strong cultural heritage that condemns waste will not, in practice, be enough to prevent its widespread persistence.