Tag Archives: Bloom

Food Waste Reduction Is So Hot Right Now!

Wondering what you should be keeping your eye on this year? Well, marketing communications firm JWT has you covered with their 100 Things to Watch in 2012. Why am I telling you this? Why, because “Curbing Food Waste” made that list. See for yourself in their neat slide show (done in alphabetical order–see #16). Also encouraging–“Fuel from Waste” […]

February 20, 2012 | Posted in Energy, Environment | Comments closed

Flash Freezing

Let me get this straight–before last week, all perishable food bought in the UK carried the advice to ‘freeze food on day of purchase?!’ Seriously? Happily, that is no longer the case at the major British chain Sainsbury’s, as they’ve backed off that uber-cautious advice. With the backing of the waste-reduction crew at WRAP, Sainsbury’s labels […]

February 15, 2012 | Posted in International, Supermarket | Comments closed

Halve a Heart

I’ve gushed about the Halfsies idea before, and that was before I saw their amazing introductory video. So, internets–meet Halfsies: Don’t even try getting that infectious piano and concise messaging out of your head–it’s physiologically impossible. Good show, Halfsies! All that remains is raising some cash and spreading the idea nationwide. (And then we’ll tackle […]

January 4, 2012 | Posted in Restaurant | Comments closed

(British) Progress!

While the US grocery industry is slowly turning to the topic of food waste–huzzah!–their British counterparts are already a year into a voluntary agreement to trim waste. More than 50 UK grocery retailers have signed on to The Courtauld Commitment Phase 2, which sets many waste reduction goals. Food is one of them. Interestingly, the food […]

December 7, 2011 | Posted in Energy, Environment, Household, International | Comments closed

Gobble, Gobbrrrrr

Maybe this goes without saying, but: don’t cook a turkey frozen since the 80s. An admirably waste-averse New Yorker wrote in to The Times Dining staff asking whether he could serve a Butterball abandoned in his relative’s freezer since the Reagan era. And he wasn’t even kidding. As we learn, the turkey experts at Butterball […]

November 21, 2011 | Posted in Household | Comments closed

Friday Buffet

Looks like in.gredients, the Austin-based zero-waste store is set to open by the end of the year. The bulk food vender will mostly sell to customers wielding their own containers, but compostable packaging will be for sale, too. I’m excited to see this operation in action! — — Statistics New Zealand just released some interesting…statistics […]

November 18, 2011 | Posted in Composting, Environment, Friday Buffet, International, Supermarket, Waste Stream | Comments closed

Zeroing Out

Zero Percent has an admirable goal–zero percent food waste. The just-launched site/app will allow participating restaurants to offer real time discounts as the end of the night approaches to avoid waste. The idea needs to gather restaurant interest, which will hopefully build momentum. Once Zero Percent gets rolling, you’d be able to check your phone […]

October 3, 2011 | Posted in Restaurant | Comments closed

Great Expectations

Everybody loves having their theories confirmed. This bit of qualitative research from the University of Manchester did that for yours truly. I’ve long believed this formula to be true: Heightened expectations for cooking homemade meals + Busy lifestyles = More waste. Now I have some sociological support for that theory, along with some interviews that […]

September 21, 2011 | Posted in Household, International | Comments closed

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. — — Exciting News: The NY Times Online reports that The Grocery Manufacturers Association is planning a three-year initiative to […]

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 […]

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