What can you do to lessen your food waste?

According to the U.S. Public Interest Research Group (US PIRG), the United States produces more than 12% of the planet’s trash, although it represents only 4% of the world’s population?  In 2018, we threw over 292 million tons of trash into landfills or incinerators and each of us threw out 4.9 pounds of trash every day.  EVERY. DAY.  In 2018, that was roughly 1,800 pounds of trash per person. 

In all that trash being thrown out, food accounts for 21.6% of it; other trash includes containers and packaging (28.1%), nondurable goods like clothing and newspaper (17.3%), durable goods like furniture, appliances, and cars (19.5%), and yard waste (12.1%).

Based on these figures, we throw away over a pound of food per person, per day!  That’s over 365 pounds of food per person, every year.  And largely, this food “trash” winds up in a landfill where it decomposes anaerobically and emits methane, one of the worst greenhouse gases; even worse than carbon dioxide in its ability to trap heat in the atmosphere.  So not only does wasting all that food hit our pocketbook, it also contributes to global warming and wastes the water used in its production.  But that’s not all.  It’s also about justice: to waste so much of what others might desperately need. 

What can you do to lessen your food waste? Lots!!

·         Buy less food!  At the grocery, try sticking to a list of items you know you need;

·         Don’t stuff your fridge or freezer because out of sight is out of mind;

·         Eat your leftovers! Or use leftover bits to make soups, casseroles, or omelets;

·         At restaurants, don’t be shy about taking your leftovers; tonight’s dinner is tomorrow’s delicious lunch;

·         And if you’re a gardener, COMPOST!  Sure, you can’t put everything in the compost bin, but there are a lot of food scraps that can be composted and therefore saved from the landfill.  When food scraps (usually considered “greens”) are composted with “browns” (like leaves, straw, newspaper) it all decomposes aerobically and does not produce methane, but does produce a wonderful nutrient-packed compost to use in your gardens.  For more information on composting, see Compost - Rodale Institute.

-          Anita Camic