Category Archives: Waste Stream

Friday Buffet

Exciting news: the National Restaurant Association announced a partnership with the US Composting Council. We shall see what comes from this collaboration, but at first glance it seems like a major step in the right direction. I like the second item the best: “We are pleased to join with the US Composting Council to better […]

October 12, 2012 | Also posted in Composting, Restaurant | Comments closed

Friday Buffet

Wait, what?! According to the UN Food and Agriculture Organization, 50% of Europe’s fruit and vegetables are wasted. I’ll have more on this staggering news on Monday. — — Lots of food waste discussion up in Canada. A recent report found that 51% of Canadian food waste comes from homes. I’m not sure I’d classify that as […]

October 5, 2012 | Also posted in Composting, Energy, Friday Buffet, Household, International, Stats | Comments closed

Friday Buffet

Unharvested fruit from backyard trees is certainly a waste. But we don’t often put uneaten mushrooms or nuts in that same category. But, this DIY.org page brimming with foraging resources does. — — Massachusetts will be banning commercial food waste from landfills in 2014. If you want to nerd out on the policy process, have […]

September 21, 2012 | Also posted in Alphabet Produce, Freegan, Friday Buffet, Household | Comments closed

Friday Buffet

Many of you will relate to Molly Watson’s determination to avoid melon waste through kitchen effort and ingenuity. — — Meanwhile, there’s a lot to like about making sandwiches out of leftovers. A great waste-avoiding strategy with a tasty byproduct! — — Wondering why we don’t feed much food waste to livestock? Here’s a succinct answer […]

September 7, 2012 | Also posted in Food Recovery, Friday Buffet, Household | Comments closed

Friday Buffet

Good news, Americans feel more guilt about wasting food than any other environmental transgression. In other words–let’s use this “green guilt” to limit waste! — — Wait, don’t toss those coffee grounds! Slow Food provides some interesting uses for something you thought was useless. — — Here are five helpful tips to help restaurateurs to […]

August 17, 2012 | Also posted in Environment, Household, Restaurant | Comments closed

Friday Buffet

I’m all for a machine that helps determine avocado ripeness by tapping it and listening to acoustics. Coming soon to a UK supermarket near you… — — Great title: “Food, too, is wasted on the young.” (Think about it for a second.) And the article has some eye-opening stats on Australian food waste. — — Just […]

July 20, 2012 | Also posted in Composting, Energy, Friday Buffet, Household, International | Comments closed

Friday Buffet

In the UK, the quasi-governmental agency WRAP launched the Hospitality and Food Services Agreement, which allows restaurants to pledge a 5% food and packaging waste reduction by 2015. Domino’s, McDonald’s, Unilever and 2o-odd others have signed on in Britain. Exciting news, but I fear that the companies will focus on packaging (which would be useful, but not […]

June 29, 2012 | Also posted in Composting, Friday Buffet, International, Personal, Restaurant | Comments closed

Tracking Our Trash

Where the heck does my trash go? If you’ve ever had that thought, you’ll be interested in Trash Track. This MIT project aims to map the travels of our day-to-day household trash using GPS and “CDMA cell-tower trilateration.” As you can see in the image tracking Seattle-based waste, our garbage has a complicated journey to its […]

June 25, 2012 | Posted in Waste Stream | Comments closed

Waste Awareness Down the Drain?

You know that one about the perfect being the enemy of the good? I’m not sure about the perfect’s relationship with the mediocre, but a recent Philadelphia campaign personifies that word. Last week, the city unveiled a pilot program to install garbage disposals in 200 homes to reduce food waste going to landfills. Now–there’s some […]

May 30, 2012 | Also posted in Composting, Energy | Comments closed

Friday Buffet

The uneaten food fee at buffets makes an appearance in NYC. It’s an interesting strategy, but can prompt overeating. The real solution–get rid of all you can eat. — — National Restaurant Association Show exhibitors donated enough food from their 4-day show to make nearly 42,000 meals. And something tells me the donated foods are top […]

May 25, 2012 | Also posted in Friday Buffet, Household, Restaurant | Comments closed