Comments on: Waste, Bagged http://www.wastedfood.com/2008/07/30/waste-bagged/ a look at how America squanders nearly half of its food Sun, 14 Mar 2010 13:57:33 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.0.4 by: Jonathan http://www.wastedfood.com/2008/07/30/waste-bagged/#comment-31323 Sun, 03 Aug 2008 22:00:37 +0000 http://www.wastedfood.com/2008/07/30/waste-bagged/#comment-31323 Des, I have a few answers for you about trash. I have a student workbook called "Talking Trash" that was distributed by the Need Project. In it, they list the top three trash-producing nations as the United States (4.4 pounds per person per day), Canada (3.7 pounds) and the Netherlands (3.0 lbs). The UK (2.8 pounds), Japan (2.8 pounds), France (2.1 pounds) and Germany (2.0 pounds) round out the top seven waste-making nations. Of course, this doesn't include recycling, which varies from country to country. After a bit of looking, I'm confident that the "Talking Trash" book data comes from 2001 research by the Environmental Protection Agency. See the executive summary (page 12) of <a href="http://www.epa.gov/epaoswer/non-hw/muncpl/pubs/msw2001.pdf" target="_blank" rel="nofollow" rel="nofollow">this PDF document</a>. As you'll see on page 4 of <a href="http://www.epa.gov/epaoswer/osw/conserve/resources/msw-2005.pdf" target="_blank" rel="nofollow" rel="nofollow">this report</a>, the U.S. is up to 4.54 pounds per person per day. I'm sure you're doing a better job in the Philippines! Des,
I have a few answers for you about trash. I have a student workbook called “Talking Trash” that was distributed by the Need Project. In it, they list the top three trash-producing nations as the United States (4.4 pounds per person per day), Canada (3.7 pounds) and the Netherlands (3.0 lbs). The UK (2.8 pounds), Japan (2.8 pounds), France (2.1 pounds) and Germany (2.0 pounds) round out the top seven waste-making nations.

Of course, this doesn’t include recycling, which varies from country to country.

After a bit of looking, I’m confident that the “Talking Trash” book data comes from 2001 research by the Environmental Protection Agency. See the executive summary (page 12) of this PDF document. As you’ll see on page 4 of this report, the U.S. is up to 4.54 pounds per person per day. I’m sure you’re doing a better job in the Philippines!

]]> by: donna http://www.wastedfood.com/2008/07/30/waste-bagged/#comment-31166 Fri, 01 Aug 2008 04:18:41 +0000 http://www.wastedfood.com/2008/07/30/waste-bagged/#comment-31166 Took my worm bin up to the Humane Society today to demo for the kids at their summer camp program. The kids love playing with the worms! We had a blast and the kids got over the worms being "yucky" until they were all handling them and finding out how cool they were. Learned all about composting, too! Took my worm bin up to the Humane Society today to demo for the kids at their summer camp program. The kids love playing with the worms! We had a blast and the kids got over the worms being “yucky” until they were all handling them and finding out how cool they were. Learned all about composting, too!

]]> by: Diane http://www.wastedfood.com/2008/07/30/waste-bagged/#comment-31163 Fri, 01 Aug 2008 03:37:46 +0000 http://www.wastedfood.com/2008/07/30/waste-bagged/#comment-31163 I have struggled with the idea of environmental vs. economical garbage bags. Living in NYC, we shop with reusable bags most times but keep a supply of plastic grocery bags which we still use for garbage. I'm not going to purchase garbage bags just to throw them away when I can get the free ones from the store. My understanding from the biobags website is that unless you compost the biobags, they still take like 90 years to break down (if they do at all) in a landfill...that just doesn't justify their expense to me. We just started to compost our food scraps (in a bin without a bag), so the garbage we throw out is much less now, but I wish there was a more environmental and economic alternative to the plastic grocery bags. I'd love to hear if anyone had any ideas! Diane in NYC I have struggled with the idea of environmental vs. economical garbage bags. Living in NYC, we shop with reusable bags most times but keep a supply of plastic grocery bags which we still use for garbage.

I’m not going to purchase garbage bags just to throw them away when I can get the free ones from the store.

My understanding from the biobags website is that unless you compost the biobags, they still take like 90 years to break down (if they do at all) in a landfill…that just doesn’t justify their expense to me.

We just started to compost our food scraps (in a bin without a bag), so the garbage we throw out is much less now, but I wish there was a more environmental and economic alternative to the plastic grocery bags.

I’d love to hear if anyone had any ideas!

Diane in NYC

]]> by: Shorty http://www.wastedfood.com/2008/07/30/waste-bagged/#comment-31129 Thu, 31 Jul 2008 19:05:28 +0000 http://www.wastedfood.com/2008/07/30/waste-bagged/#comment-31129 I had heard that you can use coffee grounds as exfoliants here is a list of other things to do http://www.ehow.com/how_2296631_use-old-coffee-grounds.html I had heard that you can use coffee grounds as exfoliants

here is a list of other things to do

http://www.ehow.com/how_2296631_use-old-coffee-grounds.html

]]> by: Jonathan http://www.wastedfood.com/2008/07/30/waste-bagged/#comment-31111 Thu, 31 Jul 2008 13:36:21 +0000 http://www.wastedfood.com/2008/07/30/waste-bagged/#comment-31111 Kerry, I did like the idea of the vents on that compost bin. I've stopped putting a lid on my kitchen compost container and it's cut down on the smell. That and taking it out every one to two days... Des, Sounds like a thrilling exhibit there in Manila. I have seen information on trash production, now I just need to remember where that was. I'll be in touch soon. One thing--are you looking for per capita trash production or just total output per country? Father Peter, Yes, they're fully biodegradable and compostable, according to <a target="_blank" href="http://www.biobagusa.com/" rel="nofollow">their web site</a>. For transparency's sake, I should say that I've never used them. Kerry,
I did like the idea of the vents on that compost bin. I’ve stopped putting a lid on my kitchen compost container and it’s cut down on the smell. That and taking it out every one to two days…

Des,
Sounds like a thrilling exhibit there in Manila. I have seen information on trash production, now I just need to remember where that was. I’ll be in touch soon. One thing–are you looking for per capita trash production or just total output per country?

Father Peter,
Yes, they’re fully biodegradable and compostable, according to their web site. For transparency’s sake, I should say that I’ve never used them.

]]> by: Fr. Peter http://www.wastedfood.com/2008/07/30/waste-bagged/#comment-31106 Thu, 31 Jul 2008 09:34:02 +0000 http://www.wastedfood.com/2008/07/30/waste-bagged/#comment-31106 Hi Jonathan, The Bio Bags, are they fully degradable? We had some degradable plastic shopping bags introduced in the UK they were plastic bags with 10% corn added. The corn did break down naturally but left the 90% plastic remaining still in the soil but in smaller pieces and these took just as long to break down as plastic bags usually do, polluting the same as a normal plastic bag (less 10%) in the process. It also turned out that if some of these bags were in a plastic bag recycling batch, the corn polluted the batch and made the resulting product unusable. I agree with you 100%, why buy something that’s not entirely necessary? Blessings. Hi Jonathan,

The Bio Bags, are they fully degradable? We had some degradable plastic shopping bags introduced in the UK they were plastic bags with 10% corn added.

The corn did break down naturally but left the 90% plastic remaining still in the soil but in smaller pieces and these took just as long to break down as plastic bags usually do, polluting the same as a normal plastic bag (less 10%) in the process. It also turned out that if some of these bags were in a plastic bag recycling batch, the corn polluted the batch and made the resulting product unusable.

I agree with you 100%, why buy something that’s not entirely necessary?

Blessings.

]]> by: Des http://www.wastedfood.com/2008/07/30/waste-bagged/#comment-31098 Thu, 31 Jul 2008 01:32:48 +0000 http://www.wastedfood.com/2008/07/30/waste-bagged/#comment-31098 Dear Mr. Bloom, A pleasant day to you. I am Des Gestiada from the Philippines. I came across your site while doing research for an upcoming exhibition we're putting up for the Oceanarium (where i work). Your articles are highly interesting and a good eye opener for people who likes to surf. Anyway, I was wondering if you can help me out with my research (if ever you have time to do so). We will be coming up with an exhibit on Garbage and we were hoping to feature the Top 3 Countries with most accumulated trash/garbage. Do you know any site where I can go to, to access this information or can you recommend any book which I can buy that has this info and other global information that we can include in our exhibit? Thank you very much for taking time to read my email. Sincerely, Des Gestiada Manila, Philippines Dear Mr. Bloom,

A pleasant day to you. I am Des Gestiada from the Philippines. I came across your site while doing research for an upcoming exhibition we’re putting up for the Oceanarium (where i work). Your articles are highly interesting and a good eye opener for people who likes to surf. Anyway, I was wondering if you can help me out with my research (if ever you have time to do so). We will be coming up with an exhibit on Garbage and we were hoping to feature the Top 3 Countries with most accumulated trash/garbage. Do you know any site where I can go to, to access this information or can you recommend any book which I can buy that has this info and other global information that we can include in our exhibit?

Thank you very much for taking time to read my email.

Sincerely,

Des Gestiada
Manila, Philippines

]]> by: Kerry http://www.wastedfood.com/2008/07/30/waste-bagged/#comment-31095 Wed, 30 Jul 2008 22:04:24 +0000 http://www.wastedfood.com/2008/07/30/waste-bagged/#comment-31095 Well if it gets my nerd husband to contribute to the composting instead of throwing food scraps in the bin it's worth it for me. Having the airflow with the little plastic bucket really eliminates odors that you get with a closed lid bucket. Well if it gets my nerd husband to contribute to the composting instead of throwing food scraps in the bin it’s worth it for me. Having the airflow with the little plastic bucket really eliminates odors that you get with a closed lid bucket.

]]> by: Jonathan http://www.wastedfood.com/2008/07/30/waste-bagged/#comment-31091 Wed, 30 Jul 2008 21:31:04 +0000 http://www.wastedfood.com/2008/07/30/waste-bagged/#comment-31091 Emily, Many cities on the East Coast used to have rag collectors who would make the rounds. How's this for door-to-door service: My parents' 110-year-old house near Boston still has a foot-pedal-operated, in-ground storage space for the slop bucket. A farmer would come around and collect whatever a household didn't eat. As for fats and oils, I think most families would use these to make soap. Robert, Those are some lucky pigs and chickens! Based on some of the things I've learned about dog food, just about any human food (not chocolate--good point!) would be better than the assorted animal parts that go into dog chow. Emily,
Many cities on the East Coast used to have rag collectors who would make the rounds. How’s this for door-to-door service: My parents’ 110-year-old house near Boston still has a foot-pedal-operated, in-ground storage space for the slop bucket. A farmer would come around and collect whatever a household didn’t eat. As for fats and oils, I think most families would use these to make soap.

Robert,
Those are some lucky pigs and chickens! Based on some of the things I’ve learned about dog food, just about any human food (not chocolate–good point!) would be better than the assorted animal parts that go into dog chow.

]]> by: Robert http://www.wastedfood.com/2008/07/30/waste-bagged/#comment-31089 Wed, 30 Jul 2008 20:45:52 +0000 http://www.wastedfood.com/2008/07/30/waste-bagged/#comment-31089 I feed my dog all sorts of table food, except bones and chocolate which is poison for dogs. Dog foods contain mainly all of the additives that human processed food contains anyway. I also have hogs, as mentioned by a poster above, and chickens. I work at a medical facility and we get all kinds of free lunches and breakfasts catered in by pharmaceutical companies. Many times there is a lot of food left over and it was all thrown out previously. I now take it all home and the pigs and chickens get a catered lunch as well! I feed my dog all sorts of table food, except bones and chocolate which is poison for dogs. Dog foods contain mainly all of the additives that human processed food contains anyway. I also have hogs, as mentioned by a poster above, and chickens. I work at a medical facility and we get all kinds of free lunches and breakfasts catered in by pharmaceutical companies. Many times there is a lot of food left over and it was all thrown out previously. I now take it all home and the pigs and chickens get a catered lunch as well!

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