Monthly Archives: June 2007

Pop Quiz

           OK, What am I holding? (click photo to enlarge)                     Here’s a hint: It was a food item.    Give up?  Click here for the answer.  Plus, you can view more pictures here.    

June 15, 2007 | Posted in Waste Stream | Comments closed

Replate: first-rate or not so great?

A bunch of San Francisco “troublemakers who make good things happen in culture and commerce” are drawing much-needed attention to food waste. Language in Common recently launched a fascinating web campaign urging people to leave their unwanted doggie bags atop trash cans for hungry folks to eat. Essentially, they’ve taken an observed behavior and made it a verb: Replate. Hmm… Five things I […]

June 14, 2007 | Posted in Food Recovery, Food Safety, Waste Stream | Comments closed

Hot Potato

Yesterday, I volunteered at the 4th Annual Potato Drop at the Raleigh Farmer’s Market. As you’d guess, a potato drop involves a large load of potatoes dropped in one location. What you may not know is that the event raises awareness for wasted food and food recovery while distributing healthy food to those in need. Nash Produce donated […]

June 13, 2007 | Posted in Events, Food Recovery | Comments closed

Hunger Day Doings

Last week’s National Hunger Awareness Day sparked some legislative action. At least it provided the peg on which legislators could hang two interesting bills.  Senators Frank R. Lautenberg (D-NJ), Elizabeth Dole (R-NC) and Blanche Lincoln (D-AR) introduced two bills. On June 5, they launched the Hunger Relief Trucking Tax Credit Act, which would give a 25-cent […]

June 12, 2007 | Posted in Food Recovery | Comments closed

Curry to Kilowatts

Food-to-energy schemes are fairly common around the globe. In the U.S., however, there are few anaerobic digesters that break down food waste and harness the gas released to power a generator.  The latest story to cross my desk is a company called Biotech, based in the South Indian state of Kerala. The company has made digesters for […]

June 11, 2007 | Posted in Energy, International, Waste Stream | Comments closed

Ugly Food

Don’t judge a book by its cover. Beauty is only skin deep. It’s what’s on the inside that counts. With the summer/local produce season upon us, I wanted to remind you that those expressions apply to produce as well as people. Alisa Smith and James MacKinnon, the folks who wrote the book behind the 100 Mile Diet, address this […]

June 8, 2007 | Posted in Farm, History and Culture, Supermarket | Comments closed

Food Falls to Non-Profits

Anyone who’s been to a casino can imagine the amount of food wasted at buffets and through the sheer volume of restaurant service. Two casinos on the Canadian side of Niagara Falls are minimizing that waste by donating heaps of prepared food to local charities. The United Way of Niagara Falls collects this high quality food and distributes it […]

June 7, 2007 | Posted in Casino, Food Recovery, International | Comments closed

The Produce Project: Day 3

I recently worked at a supermarket produce department for three months, an endeavor I’ve dubbed The Produce Project. On the first day of work, I got right into the action by tossing more than 50 pounds of ”sell-by” date casualties and watching some computer training videos. The third day began at 7 a.m. with the familiar a.m. […]

June 6, 2007 | Posted in Supermarket, The Produce Project | Comments closed

Are You Hungry?

Today is National Hunger Awareness Day. Do you and your family struggle to find enough food? If not, maybe you should help the 10 percent of Americans who do. To find out what hunger awareness events are happening in your state, America’s Second Harvest created this handy tool. Some of the options are pretty painless, such as eating […]

June 5, 2007 | Posted in Food Recovery, History and Culture | Comments closed

Britain Talks Trash II

I’ve been reading some of the fine print on the Waste Strategy for England 2007 and there’s more than meets the eye. In addition to incentives for businesses to compost, the waste plan includes annual increases of the per tonne landfill tax so that it doubles by 2011. We’re seeing both the carrot and the stick. As this […]

June 1, 2007 | Posted in International, Waste Stream | Comments closed