Category Archives: Friday Buffet

Ins and outs from the week in food waste

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 Composting, Food Recovery | Comments closed

Friday Buffet

Sure, Virginia helped elect our first African-American president, but they wouldn’t compost at Mr. Jefferson’s University, would they? — — And while UVA may be composting, one dining hall at Portland State is attempting to go zero-waste. Oh, that’s so Portland. — — When I was a kid, we didn’t have fancy orange desserts, we […]

November 7, 2008 | Also posted in College, Composting | Comments closed

Friday Buffet

Who is feeding America? Not America’s Second Harvest, because they’re now called Feeding America. — — I recently interviewed Converted Organics’ CEO Ed Gildea on the company’s fancy pants composting process. They’ve just posted a video showing the first delivery of solid food waste to their New Jersey facility. — — While we’re watching videos, […]

October 31, 2008 | Also posted in Composting, Food Recovery, Household, International, Waste Stream | Comments closed

Friday Buffet

Tacoma’s McNeil Island prison (Correctional Facility if you want to split hairs) is now composting food as part of a larger effort to cut both waste and their budget. — — Interesting discussion of when biodegradable bags don’t live up to their adjective.  Keep in mind that “compostable” trumps “biodegreadable.” And King County, Washington (Seattle) recommends three brands of […]

October 24, 2008 | Also posted in Composting, Household, Institutional | Comments closed

Friday Buffet

I enjoyed peeking into these food leaders’ fridges. Given the sparsity in most of them, I doubt there’d be much food wasted. For more voyeurism, check out Other People’s Pantries, a recurring feature on The Perfect Pantry blog. — — (With apologies to Shakespeare)          Get thee to a wormery! — — It’s not every day that you […]

October 17, 2008 | Also posted in Composting, Household, Restaurant | Comments closed

Friday Buffet

Sometimes the best intentions–as in bringing food to those who’ve recently lost a loved one–can lead to waste. An interesting look at a specific instance of culturally-driven food waste. — — America’s Second Harvest is having a tough time. That’s not good news, as food banks are going to have more and more customers as the […]

October 10, 2008 | Also posted in History and Culture, Household | Comments closed

Friday Buffet

I like the idea of a compost bench, but not the price tag. — — It’s always nice to hear about food waste from our friends down under. Then again…I think I disagree with every opinion in this post, written by an American ex-pat living in Australia, on doggie bags (except the ridiculousness of U.S. […]

September 26, 2008 | Also posted in Composting, International, Restaurant | Comments closed

Friday Buffet

If you hadn’t considered the idea of trayless college cafeterias, here’s an NPR piece on it. For the most part, it illustrates why I’m such a proponent of traylessness. — — Read this waste horror story from a mom who volunteered to supervise lunch at her daughter’s school and a spirited discussion on how parents can trim lunchbox […]

September 12, 2008 | Also posted in College, International, School, Trayless | Comments closed

Sunday Smorgasbord

I’ve always liked college, I have a soft spot for Mississippi and I love gleaning. Put that all together and you have Mississippi State gleaning watermelon. — — I’m sad to report that the California bill that would have made food donation easier at catered events is dead for the year. The office of State […]

September 7, 2008 | Also posted in College, Food Recovery, Legislation, School | Comments closed

Friday Buffet

Democratic National Convention organizers aimed to divert 85 percent of its waste from the landfill, including composting food. Based on this Rocky Mountain News article, it seems like they’ll have to settle for 70 percent. In my book, that’s still quite an accomplishment, as described here. So why bar volunteers from talking to the press, […]

August 29, 2008 | Also posted in Composting, Events, Trayless | Comments closed