Friday Buffet

Hot off the press: New data on retail and home produce waste from our friends at the USDA’s Economic Research Service. I’ll break this down further in a future post, but in the meantime, take a gander.

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Exciting News: The NY Times Online reports that The Grocery Manufacturers Association is planning a three-year initiative to reduce the amount of food supermarkets waste. The effort–in conjunction with the Food Marketing Institute–will trim the amount of food we send to landfills, aiding hungry Americans instead.

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Is OPEC turning to food waste for fuel? Not that OPEC, but the Orange Peel Exploitation Company is exploring a technology developed at York University that microwaves food waste to create a fuel.

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Despite what some in Britain claim, the public strongly backs separate food waste collection (according to a recent poll).

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Finally, I’m on my way to Cape May to give a talk at Sunday’s Guess What’s Coming For Dinner event. See you there, perhaps…

September 16, 2011 | Posted in Composting, Energy, Friday Buffet, Household, Personal, Supermarket | Comments closed

Giving Composting the Old College Try

Forget football, the real news coming out of State College, Penn., this fall could be composting touching down.

The borough is considering a move to the two bin system: compostable organics and other trash. State College will host a public hearing to gauge opinion on the proposal in early October.

In addition to keeping organics out of the landfill, the new plan would cut trash truck emissions, as the necessary new vehicles would run on natural gas. Heck, the municipality would even save money under the new waste plan after it paid for the new trucks in about four years.

Hopefully, after an 18-month pilot program, State College is game to start composting. From what we learn in this in-depth piece by a State College freegan, the town tosses plenty of food. Most places do.

September 14, 2011 | Posted in Composting, Freegan | Comments closed

Germany to Waste: Halt!

On Friday, Germany’s Minister of Food Agriculture and Consumer Protection announced it will conduct a study on food waste. In other words, they aim to find out how much waste can be halted.

The move came in conjunction with Slow Food founder Carlo Petrini’s visit to Germany. Slow Food is increasingly emphasizing waste reduction, in conjunction with supporting small- and medium-sized farms.

During his German visit, Petrini gleaned unwanted produce from the field, and volunteers converted the recovered crops into a community meal to raise awareness for waste called Teller Statt Tonne (I’ve found that the translate feature on Chrome browsers is helpful there).

image courtesy of demeter

Wish I could have been there (and that I spoke German). But here are some photos from the event. The anti-waste movement rolls on…with plenty of love for oddly-shaped produce.

September 12, 2011 | Posted in Food Recovery, International | Comments closed

Friday Buffet

In a UK survey, 82 percent of those surveyed believed it was important to reduce restaurant food waste. And about that same amount said they’d even do something about it! 80 percent said they’d opt to not receive items they knew they wouldn’t eat.

There are some other interesting findings in the report, which Unilever will send to you if you request it.

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Meanwhile, there’s some interesting chatter at Vanderbilt about what’s more wasteful–all-you-can-eat meal plans or those that feature an entree and two sides. I’m pretty sure it’s the former, but this discussion hints that a points-based system (which it seems non first years have) might work best.

More than anything, the piece illustrates a heightened awareness to waste among this year’s freshman class.

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I’m a sucker for cause-based mascots. This UK-based WISE owl is kinda fun.

September 9, 2011 | Posted in College, Friday Buffet, International, Restaurant | Comments closed

Kitchen Reading: Wildly Affordable Organic

With Wildly Affordable Organic, author Linda Watson communicates that organic/sustainable isn’t necessarily synonymous with expensive when it comes to food. As the subtitle puts it: Eat Fabulous Food, Get Healthy, and Save the Planet. Hard to argue with that.

WAO carves out a neat niche in the crowded cookbook world. That’s partly because it is a smorgasbord: Part manifesto, part food-purchasing guide, part cookbook, part dispenser of kitchen savvy. I’m guessing anyone can find one, if not more, useful feature to the book.

On the topic of food waste prevention, WAO hits a few high notes. There’s a nice section in praise of the freezer. In it, Watson advocates freezing just about everything, including “Planned-Overs” (not Leftovers). But, she warns:

Don’t freeze things that the store can store for you, unless you’ve got the room and it’s a big sale. Do you need ten pounds of frozen peas?

In one especially helpful passage, Watson lists some items that don’t freeze well: raw potatoes, leafy greens, watery vegetables like cucumbers, cream, sour cream, mayo, or cream cheese.

As one would expect from a cookbook aimed at saving money, WAO takes a sensible approach to food waste: it’s a costly habit. “You bought it, so cook it,” Watson advises. She recommends paying attention what we toss, so as to avoid repeating those mistakes.

Finally, in a segment mostly about composting, Watson rips off a refrain I’d love to see become a mantra: “Strive to waste less, not recycle more.” Amen.

September 8, 2011 | Posted in Household | Comments closed

Friday Buffet

Despite having a bit of a hangover from yesterday’s Paperback Party, I wouldn’t want to leave your Friday Buffetless. Here goes:
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You know composting is spreading when you see a federal prison in Texas puts out an RFP for food waste removal.

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Just so we’re clear–pythons should not be composted. And you probably should try to avoid having to compost a snake.

But I have to say: the person who left that python in a compost bin may have been a crappy pet owner, but at least they went for the environmentally friendly green bin instead of using the nearest dumpster.

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A tale of non-cold chain woe from northern India, made even more disheartening by the rampant hunger. The Forbes article features this stunner:

[India] loses an estimated 40 percent of its fruit and vegetables to rot because of a lack of refrigerated trucking, poor roads, inclement weather and corruption.

September 2, 2011 | Posted in General | Comments closed

Paperback Party

Hey there! Come on in–make yourself at home.

Help yourself to a drink and there’s food over there. Just don’t take more than you’ll eat! You know…because it’s a party for a book about…yeah, you know.

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This day is a happy one–celebrating the release of American Wasteland in paperback. Or as I like to call it, $10 book day.

Aside from the new cover, the book’s interior is entirely the same, with one exception: the new appendix of food- and money-saving tips. So that’s not any real reason for celebration.

More than anything, it’s a banner day because I’m thinking of it as the first birthday of American Wasteland. Hopefully, the book’s publishing last fall brought new attention to food waste. I know it took me to some fascinating places.

So with that in mind–have some birthday cake…I’ve cut slices of all sizes because, well, you know…

September 1, 2011 | Posted in Personal | Comments closed

Mr. Potato Head(s)

This Saturday at the super duper Durham Farmer’s Market, I volunteered with Farmer Foodshare. This innovative program collects donations of food from farmers and edibles or currency from shoppers.

Volunteers take the donated money and buy produce from the local growers (win-win-win!). Anyway, we try to stretch the money to get as much food as we can for the local shelter.

And that’s how we ended up with this series of charismatic potatoes. They’re a good reminder that food doesn’t always look uniform, nor does it have to look perfect to taste great. (I tried a similar one and it was peachy.)

August 29, 2011 | Posted in General | Comments closed

Friday Buffet

In a town near Vancouver, curbside compost collection is attracting bears, which, sadly, usually doesn’t end well for bears. Mixing newspaper in with the compost or keeping food scraps in the freezer before collection are two suggested solutions…

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The Stop Food Waste campaign run by the Irish EPA found that 30% of what Irish families buy is wasted. That means Ireland is (very) unofficially 3% less wasteful than the Brits, which will hopefully cause at least one celebratory pint to be hoisted.

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Somewhat disappointingly, the article “ORCA COMES TO PHOENIX CONVENTION CENTER” ended very differently than I first imagined. (The all-caps didn’t help…)

I do think having a large mammal to chow food scraps/attract and entertain visitors is…an idea.

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Finally, it’s heartening to see garbage big boys Waste Management join the composting game. The firm launched a dedicated food waste route in San Diego–they’re now collecting from seven Albertson’s supermarkets and a few other places. And they are buying a dedicated food waste truck, so the composting program will likely expand.

WM is also testing a food waste-to-energy plant in Orange County. I suggest an orca.

August 26, 2011 | Posted in Composting, Energy, International | Comments closed

Double the Waste?

This summer’s new school lunch guidelines that accompanied the updated federal food icon–MyPlate–push for larger portions of fruit and vegetables. Sounds great, right?

There’s only one problem: fruit and vegetables are already the most wasted items in school lunches. Serving more of them to each student will only mean more food in the trash. Cue the video.

One other problem–the fruit and vegetables many schools (and this YMCA) serve aren’t the best. They’re often canned or frozen, which won’t help avoid waste.

Along with the changed guidelines of MyPlate, The Healthy, Hunger-Free Kids Act of 2010 is supposed to be more money allotted for buying fresh (hopefully local) produce and starting school garden programs. With the latter, the more connection kids have to their food, the more they eat. Even healthy foods…

I wonder whether there is a general lag in implementation, the funding only applies to schools, or if there’s another explanation. Any ideas?

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P.S. Check out this neat history of USDA food guides.

August 22, 2011 | Posted in General | Comments closed