Category Archives: Composting

Friday Buffet

Palo Alto, Calif., has formed a Blue Ribbon Task Force to study how best to compost food waste. Is it just me, or does that description seem a bit outdated. Will they form a second place task force, too? At least the group won’t be influenced by the city council. Sayeth councilman Larry Klein: “You […]

January 16, 2009 | Also posted in Friday Buffet, Household, International | Comments closed

Austin City, No Limits

This makes my month: the Austin Farmer’s Market is now accepting compost from individuals partly because of this humble blog. Farmers selling at Texas’ largest growers-only market have long donated unsold edibles to soup kitchens and composted the remains. Since last Saturday, though, shoppers can bring their household food waste to the market. This makes […]

January 6, 2009 | Also posted in Farmers' Market, Waste Stream | Comments closed

Avoiding That Sinking Feeling

Funky things are happening with the plumbing down under. While I’m still reeling from the clockwise/counter-clockwise toilet flush hoax, Southern hemisphere inventors have moved on. Two recent creations offer solutions to the inefficiency of washing food down the drain. First, a 9-year-old New Zealand boy invented a contraption that allows you to dump food waste […]

January 5, 2009 | Also posted in Garden, Household, International, Waste Stream | Comments closed

Friday Buffet

Life in Lidia’s Italy doesn’t include waste. The public television chef has some helpful advice on avoiding food waste. — — Talking about composting–that’s the spirit, Whole Foods. Now how about making food donation a priority to reduce the need for composting?  — — Belated, happy first birthday wishes to North Berkeley Harvest! In 2008, the California group picked more […]

January 2, 2009 | Also posted in Food Recovery, Friday Buffet, General, Household | Comments closed

New Year, New Resolutions

Believe it or not, another year is finished (again?). As we celebrate 2009’s beginning, let’s resolve to reduce food waste. Because I doubt I can communicate my thoughts any better, here’s an op-ed I wrote in 2006. In addition to recycling ideas from two years ago (recycle, reduce, reuse, right?!), I’m making a few new […]

December 31, 2008 | Also posted in Garden, Household, Personal | Comments closed

The Import/Export Business

I occasionally hear from apartment dwellers frustrated that they can’t compost. I point them to this indoor composting contraption or suggest worm bins. But here’s a new idea: Export your compost! I just found out that New Yorkers can drop off their food waste at Union Square Farmer’s Market, where the Lower East Side Ecology Center […]

December 22, 2008 | Also posted in General | Comments closed

Holiday Shopping

There aren’t many items you can buy that will reduce food waste; it’s mostly what you do. That said, here are a few useful goodies: While a bruised banana isn’t necessarily a wasted one (it’s just the start of a smoothie or banana bread), that’s harder to pull off at work or school. That’s why […]

December 16, 2008 | Also posted in Garden, Household | Comments closed

LA’s Green Certification Omission

Los Angeles just announced a green business certification program they plan to launch on a full-scale in six months. The city hopes restaurants, retailers, hotels and others will participate. Years in the making, the program is a joint-effort between the city’s environmental people and The GreenLA Coalition, with the chamber of commerce and convention and […]

December 9, 2008 | Also posted in Restaurant | Comments closed

Friday Buffet

Not a fan of composting? You can always dig holes and bury food in them. — — Or, you can get a Green Cone, a food waste solution that’s not a composter, but you don’t have to stir. Really? — — Winter in Florida means citrus donations. If they had that program in Chicago, this […]

December 5, 2008 | Also posted in Food Recovery, Friday Buffet | Comments closed

Britain Smitten with Food Recycling

Of the UK local governments in that collect trash, about one-fourth now separate food waste for composting or other uses. Food recycling programs have really taken off in the last year and high participation rates have only helped. When food waste collection is available, two-thirds of the households participate. What does that look like? Here’s […]

December 3, 2008 | Also posted in International | Comments closed