Category Archives: International

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, Friday Buffet, Restaurant | Comments closed

Disastrous Waste

WF reader Bess recently wrote in to discuss food recovery in the wake of natural disasters, particularly hurricanes like Ike. It’s an tricky topic, as storms create both a real need for food and plenty of food waste from power loss.  Stores are often forced to throw away all perishable foods. Even after they regain power, […]

September 19, 2008 | Also posted in Food Safety, Supermarket | 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, Friday Buffet, School, Trayless | Comments closed

Friday Buffet

Publix supermarkets recently announced a program to compost meat, produce and bakery items from 56 Broward County stores and all 237 S. Florida stores by mid-2009. Organic Recovery will convert the supermarket waste to a soil supplement by enzymatic digestion. Great news, but I’d love to see this kind of top-down approach to donating the […]

August 22, 2008 | Also posted in Composting, Friday Buffet, Supermarket | Comments closed

Friday Buffet

Gotta love this well-executed leftovers humor, courtesy of The Onion. — Welcome news: Due to rising food prices, 62 percent of shoppers at the British chain Sainsbury’s are concerned about wasted food. Even more heartening, about 1/3 of those polled report that they’re doing something about it–by making food stretch over a couple of meals. […]

August 15, 2008 | Also posted in Composting, Friday Buffet, Household | Comments closed

Israeli Irrigation Issues

The topic of food waste doesn’t usually arise at my breakfast table, as I finish my cereal and my dog slurps the remaining milk. Yesterday, that changed. It wasn’t that my Grape Nuts went uneaten, rather that I came across this massive food waste photo in a NY Times story about the effects of drought […]

August 11, 2008 | Also posted in Farm | Comments closed

Friday Buffet

If a farmer harvested inefficiently, would you say it was a criminal act? In light of the mounting food shortages, the Belarusian president thinks it’s a prison-worthy offense. — — I’d love it now, but I guess I can wait two years for a waste-powered car. — — Why spend $1,350 to do the wrong […]

July 25, 2008 | Also posted in Composting, Farm, Food Recovery, Friday Buffet | Comments closed

Eating Contests: Where Everyone Loses

Eating contests: fun, folksy ritual or waste of food? This article from Singapore raised that question and forced me to revisit the topic I’d previously considered. Sorry to play the wet blanket here, especially in the summertime, but I’m gonna say it: eating contests seem silly. Dare I say…gluttonous. Now this may just be that […]

July 22, 2008 | Also posted in History and Culture | Comments closed

Friday Buffet

Behold, the Mount Everest Rushmore of cheese sculptures. Maybe they heard me coming, because the article notes that this cheddar masterpiece will eventually be eaten. (I’ve got dibs on Washington’s schnauze.) — — Check out this useful article on extending food shelf life from the increasingly waste-centric food writer China Millman at the Chicago Sun-Times. […]

July 18, 2008 | Also posted in Food Recovery, Friday Buffet, Household, Tree Gleaning | Comments closed

Game For Some Fun?

Here’s a first: a food waste video game. In Gordon Brown and the Kingdom of the Wasters, you get to control the British Prime Minister as he tries to recover good food like bananas and cupcakes while avoiding rotten items like fish bones. Apparently, dastardly opposition leader David Cameron is the one throwing away the […]

July 17, 2008 | Posted in International | Comments closed