Compulsory Composting? (and a video)

A piece in The Boston Globe Sunday Magazine makes a pretty convincing case for mandatory composting. I’m all for it, but I would like to hear from the people in SF and Seattle who now fit face that imperative.

I’m sure there would be some backlash if this occured in cities slightly less progressive than those two. But I’ll take a few complaints over the massive amount of waste currently being hauled off to landfills each day.

In the article we learn about how the island of Nantucket began collecting food waste separate from trash to save landfill space. If this island with a winter population of about 12,000 spread out over about 50 square miles can do it, there’s no reason a dense city can’t pull it off (as the collection routes would be more compact and easier).

I’d love to see video of Nantucket food collection and subsequent use of a digester. Since there isn’t footage online and I’m in the mood for a video, you’ll have to settle for this beautiful 5 minute documentary I just discovered on gleaning in California.

At the 1:35 mark, check out how nice the lettuce looks! It’s better than anything you’d find in the supermarket, but for one reason or another the grower didn’t harvest it. Gleaners can only get a fraction of these items…

The Gleaners from Hunger In California on Vimeo.

 

 

March 22, 2010 | Posted in Composting, Farm, Food Recovery | Comments closed

Friday Buffet

The Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC) thinks that reducing our food waste by 25 percent is a reasonable goal. I’d shoot a little higher, but, that’s just me.

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School lunch reform hits New Haven and food hits the bin. image courtesy of RR Craft via EtsyOf course, it’s more complex than that. An engrossing read.

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Why can’t composting and crafting go together?

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The UK government (via DEFRA) is highlighting business opportunities in processing food waste. Sort of like what the US government is doing, but the opposite.

Great news from the report, entitled Less is More: Britain has 1.7 million tonnes of organic waste treatment capacity in the works.

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And finally, who says this blog isn’t risqué? Here are some tales of illicit buffet doggie bagging. 

March 19, 2010 | Posted in Composting, Friday Buffet, International, Restaurant, School | Comments closed

Pot of Black Gold

Q: What’s greener than Irish composting?? 

A: Irish worm composting.

The latter is slightly greener, as worms break down organics quicker than regular composting. Even more heartening, though, is the mandatory separation of food waste for large-scale food producers. The legislation took effect on January 1 and impacts restaurants, supermarkets and anyone producing more than 50 kg (110 lbs) of waste per week.

Black Gold Compost. Photo by Arnold Inuyaki via creative commonsOf course, in accordance with the “reduce, reuse, recycle” trinity–reducing food waste would out-green all of the above–but I didn’t find anything on that online.

I did find that Tir na nOg, an Irish pub in Raleigh, touts its composting on its site. I wish more restaurants would do so–both compost and publicize it.

Back to Irish Worms, they’re the first vermiculture operation I’ve seen that also sells live bait. I suppose this makes sense in a ‘Cycle of Life’ way. But probably not to people opposed to eating fish.

Regardless, I can’t imagine anyone being against green beer. Happy St. Patrick’s Day, folks.

March 17, 2010 | Posted in Composting, International, Vermiculture | Comments closed

Doggie Bag Declined

I tweeted about this tale of waste over the weekend, but it’s just too ridiculous not to cover here, too.

The Consumerist tells the story of a woman (Jennifer) and her boyfriend out to eat at the somewhat upscale McCormick and Schmick’s chain. It’s happy hour, so their beers and burgers come at a discount. He doesn’t finish his burger and fries photo by stu_spivack via creative commonsand–good man–asks for a box to take it home.

Suspense mounts…or it would if the post’s title was different.

As you’d guess, he’s denied. Jennifer e-mails the manager and he responds:

It may not seem like much taking half a cheeseburger and fries home, but after many years of hosting a Happy Hour featuring food that is priced as a loss leader we have found that allowing any To Go food creates a multitude of problems.

The manager goes on to say that they’re afraid of people ordering lots of happy hour food with the intention of eating it later, at home. That’s a reasonable concern, but that fear shouldn’t apply when a customer wants to take home one item. Especially when it’s a half-pound burger–roughly two to three times the healthy serving size.

There’s also a communication breakdown here. When I hear “To Go” food, I think of ordering out, not taking home leftovers. While the restaurant does display “No To Go Food during Happy Hour” on its happy hour menu, that wouldn’t make me think I couldn’t get a doggie bag.

Based on the voting on The Consumerist, 73% think the restaurant was in the wrong. What’s your take on it? Either way, with 476 comments to date, it’s getting under some people’s skin.

March 15, 2010 | Posted in Restaurant | Comments closed

Friday Buffet

This Treehugger piece uses some neat illustrations to depict the impact of food waste. And the full set of infographics are even cooler.
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Unfortunately, this WWII poster mixes an anti-waste message with lame sexism.

photo by roger.karlsson via creative commons— —

Are you part of the hard core apple club? A fifth grade group on a trip learns about conservation, more than halving their food waste.

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According to this article, incineration may not be better than landfill.

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Chocolate waste? What?! A German developer has created a centrifuge to enable chocolate reuse in case of malfunctioning manufacturing machinery. Good–now I’ll be able to sleep at night.

March 12, 2010 | Posted in Energy, Friday Buffet, History and Culture, School, Waste Stream | Comments closed

Food Waste? BAM!!

One rule at this humble site is that any time a food service provider with 400+ venues launches a food waste reduction campaign, they’ll receive some favorable coverage. (Between you and me, I’ll pretty much write about any kind of food waste initiative.)

And so…Bon Appetit Management Company (BAMCO) recently announced its food waste reduction plan. For the next 12 weeks, the Palo Alto-based food service provider will be:

  • Educating chefs and kitchen staff on the negative environmental impact of food waste
  • Distributing educational tools to kitchen staff on proper portioning and prepping techniques
  • A weekly waste monitoring program in all kitchens that includes weighing and measuring food scraps in the kitchens as well as as dishes are returned by customers in the café

promotional material from Bon Appetit. Photo by J. BloomThe waste reduction campaign is part of BAMCO’s Low Carbon Diet program. And not surprisingly, it corresponds with the works of the nonprofit BAMCO Foundation, which aims to make food service more sustainable.

Come April, we’ll hear back from BAMCO on how they’ve fared with their campaign. I’m anxious to hear the results, as the company has trimmed 20 percent of their waste just in the last few years.

Thus far, BAMCO has been a real leader in the field of institutional waste reduction. That’s why I was surprised to read that only about half of the eligible venues they serve are trayless. I had them pegged for 100%! Perhaps come April…

March 10, 2010 | Posted in College, Environment, Trayless | Comments closed

Courting Change

Don’t look now, but they’re at it again in the UK. On Thursday, WRAP announced an extension of an existing voluntary agreement to reduce packaging and food waste.

As of Thursday’s launch, 29 food retailers and producers had signed on to the second installment of the Courtauld Commitment. The first was signed in 2005 and involved more than 40 signees.

Courtauld II sets new targets (to be met between April and December 2012):

  • Reducing the carbon impact of grocery packaging by 10%, or 1.1 million tonnes, of CO2 equivalent from 2009 levels
  • Reducing household food waste by 4%, or 330,000 tonnes, of 2009 levels
  • Reducing product and packaging waste throughout the supply chain by 5% of 2009 levels to save 0.7 million tonnes of CO2 equivalent

And for those who prefer to watch their news…
 

I’m curious to hear what the response will be like in the UK. From what little I’ve seen, it has been positive.

Another question is whether voluntary participation will work. It did with the first agreement, as companies representing 92 percent of UK supermarkets signed the agreement. I’ll be following the progress on this, but let me know if you hear anything further on it.

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In a related story, The Telegraph tells us that UK supermarkets will sell smaller portions of some items:

To help consumers cut food waste, supermarkets will sell smaller portions such as half loaves of bread and suggest recipes for left overs.

Hear, hear!

March 8, 2010 | Posted in Household, International, Supermarket | Comments closed

Friday Buffet

That urban British men between 25 and 35 are the worst food wasters in the land isn’t that surprising. But that 3 in 4 Britons don’t think food waste is harmful to the environment?!

Oh, and the most wasted food in Britain is the noble banana. Accordingly, the Guardian offers a few suggestions.

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Remember how I love the Japanese concept of Mottainai? Well, apparently there’s a Mottainai Shop in Tokyo, which I will definitely visit the next time I’m Japan. And, of course, they discount sweets about to reach their best-by date.

— —3, 2, 1, Compost!! Photo by Jurvetson via Creative Commons

It’s hard not to be intrigued by something called a rocket composter. Go ahead, just try not to be interested…

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Bad news: Santa Cruz County is unlikely to continue its commercial composting program because it needs to perform $200,000 of work to get a state permit (they’d been operating for 3 years as a pilot program). Grrr…
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Good news: We often hear of food waste composting on the coasts, so it’s nice to see talk of it in the center. Doesn’t get much more central than St. Louis. I’ll keep my eye on St. Louis Composting.

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Meanwhile, in New Jersey, Converted Organics struck a deal with a few school districts to compost their food waste. Great idea guys, there’s certainly enough of it. And elementary schools in Bellevue, Wash., will also be composting.

March 5, 2010 | Posted in Composting, International, School | Comments closed

Diving into Film Reviews

I previously wrote about the documentary film Dive! and posted the trailer. I finally got the chance to watch it and want to pass along a hearty endorsement.

It’s a surprisingly personal film, a point driven home in the opening credits when filmmaker Jeremy Seifert’s young son scatters the oranges used to spell out the film’s title. We’re basically invited into Seifert’s dumpster diving world of family and friends. More interesting, though, is when we travel along with Seifert as he examines food waste and its effects.

image courtesy of Dive!The 42-minute documentary makes an important point–while most supermarkets donate food, they often just give baked goods and other shelf-stable items while throwing away all perishables. Hence the abundance of organic chicken, blueberries and bagged salads we Seifert and his pals pluck from dumpster after dumpster.

This abundant waste is communicated when Seifert decides he needs a storage freezer for all of his goods. In a week, he fills it with a year’s supply of meat. And his wife confides that they have a hard time keeping up with all the food available for the taking.

I also appreciated the frank talk about the legality and ethics of dumpster diving. Is it in an act of civil disobedience, as one participant claimed? Perhaps. Is it fun to vicariously “dive” via the film? Most definitely.

My one complaint was that some of the interviews were done by phone, so we just hear the subject’s voice. In particular, I would have loved to have seen Timothy Jones, as I’ve spoken to him a bunch, but never met him. But that is easily forgiven by the end of the film, when we learn that the film’s budget hovered around $200.

Finally, Dive‘s use of stop-motion animation with beans and other food items to illustrate certain points was mesmerizing. (I could have done without the writing in whipped cream, though). In sum, the film’s content is important and delivered with warmth and effectiveness. And there’s even a bit of humor, too.

At the end of the credits, we see:

“Disclaimer for people into suing: This video is not intended to promote dumpster diving…”

March 3, 2010 | Posted in Waste Stream | Comments closed

M’Gosh, Oshkosh!

Recently, the University of Wisconsin-Oshkosh announced that they’ll start construction on an anaerobic digestion project this spring. It’s great news, as the food waste-to-energy project should be completed by the fall.

I’m not sure why exactly it’ll be the “first of its kind nationwide,” as the article mentions, N'body I'm related to. Photo by BabaSteve via Creative Commonsbut I’d guess it has something to do with “dry fermentation,” which sounds like it’s straight from a beer ad (‘beechwood aged, dry fermented lager…’).

Also noted in the piece: One of the project’s goals, school administrators noted, is to gain national attention. Any time, Oshkosh.

What makes this project really interesting to me, though, is that in addition to processing campus food waste, the digester will accept local supermarket waste. It’s nice to see that kind of town/gown cooperation, but it’s not quite as important as campus food recovery groups that bring leftover cafeteria food to nearby shelters.

And I really hope that when they say “expired grocery store products” they don’t mean items past their sell-by date.

That caveat aside, the biodigester will make the Oshkosh campus much more sustainable. It will supply 5% of the campus’ energy, reduce the school’s waste hauling costs and keep food from the landfill. Not too shabby.

March 1, 2010 | Posted in Anaerobic Digestion, College, Energy | Comments closed