Comments on: The Import/Export Business http://www.wastedfood.com/2008/12/22/the-importexport-business/ a look at how America squanders nearly half of its food Wed, 08 Feb 2012 20:08:15 +0000 hourly 1 By: Harry http://www.wastedfood.com/2008/12/22/the-importexport-business/comment-page-1/#comment-101754 Harry Thu, 19 Mar 2009 19:53:38 +0000 http://www.wastedfood.com/2008/12/22/the-importexport-business/#comment-101754 The sellers themselves would LOVE this. FMs have been springing up all over the place, many of them places not designed to deal with lots of waste. As a result most places require the FMs pack out all their waste. Imagine what a food truck smells like at the end of the 3 day selling trip! Any way to reduce what they have to pack out would be welcomed and I bet that they'd be willing to consider a small fee to make it happen. The problem of unsuitable space remains. If the FM is at an office plaza or a subway stop (the typical haul-away location in my area), there's no place to have a compost pile. Assuming one could overcome the ick and NIMBY factor from those unfamiliar with the joys of compost. I used to get greens for my compost piles from the local FM. The sellers loved giving it to me. This was back when I had the yard space to compost by the cubic yard: picking up OPG[1] and garbage bags of coffee grounds from Starbucks, and county-provided leaf mulch to use for browns.[2] Now I have a small city yard and can't absorb more than my own household's worth of kitchen scraps. [1] Other People's Grass. I didn't care about the likely lawn chemicals (some people do) and in a year of doing this I found only one broken bottle. [2] I added my ripped up newspapers, toilet rolls, and shredded paper but it wasn't enough. The sellers themselves would LOVE this. FMs have been springing up all over the place, many of them places not designed to deal with lots of waste. As a result most places require the FMs pack out all their waste. Imagine what a food truck smells like at the end of the 3 day selling trip! Any way to reduce what they have to pack out would be welcomed and I bet that they’d be willing to consider a small fee to make it happen.

The problem of unsuitable space remains. If the FM is at an office plaza or a subway stop (the typical haul-away location in my area), there’s no place to have a compost pile. Assuming one could overcome the ick and NIMBY factor from those unfamiliar with the joys of compost.

I used to get greens for my compost piles from the local FM. The sellers loved giving it to me. This was back when I had the yard space to compost by the cubic yard: picking up OPG[1] and garbage bags of coffee grounds from Starbucks, and county-provided leaf mulch to use for browns.[2] Now I have a small city yard and can’t absorb more than my own household’s worth of kitchen scraps.

[1] Other People’s Grass. I didn’t care about the likely lawn chemicals (some people do) and in a year of doing this I found only one broken bottle.
[2] I added my ripped up newspapers, toilet rolls, and shredded paper but it wasn’t enough.

]]> By: Mimi W. http://www.wastedfood.com/2008/12/22/the-importexport-business/comment-page-1/#comment-65919 Mimi W. Wed, 31 Dec 2008 18:53:10 +0000 http://www.wastedfood.com/2008/12/22/the-importexport-business/#comment-65919 The officials in the City of Falls Church, VA should get this started at their farmers market. You could suggest it to them, JB. The officials in the City of Falls Church, VA should get this started at their farmers market. You could suggest it to them, JB.

]]> By: Teresa http://www.wastedfood.com/2008/12/22/the-importexport-business/comment-page-1/#comment-65217 Teresa Mon, 29 Dec 2008 14:17:47 +0000 http://www.wastedfood.com/2008/12/22/the-importexport-business/#comment-65217 Found a couple more links: In San Francisco, CA http://www.cuesa.org/events/waste_wise/composting.php In Boulder, CO http://www.ecocycle.org/compost/farmersmarket.cfm Looks like food composting at farmers markets is in practice in a few areas. What a fantastic idea! Found a couple more links:

In San Francisco, CA
http://www.cuesa.org/events/waste_wise/composting.php

In Boulder, CO
http://www.ecocycle.org/compost/farmersmarket.cfm

Looks like food composting at farmers markets is in practice in a few areas. What a fantastic idea!

]]> By: Dan Livingston http://www.wastedfood.com/2008/12/22/the-importexport-business/comment-page-1/#comment-61088 Dan Livingston Mon, 22 Dec 2008 15:46:44 +0000 http://www.wastedfood.com/2008/12/22/the-importexport-business/#comment-61088 Jonathan, To answer the question at the end of your post: no. I don't know of other farmer's markets that do this. I do know of many farmer's markets that have been attempting to streamline the process by which WIC and EBT (Food Stamp) dollars enter into the markets. In this way, many local farmers have tapped into a consumer based subsidy of their local products. Pretty neat. If your farmer's market isn't currently EBT ready, perhaps you could work with them to make that happen. Obviously this has little to do with food waste, but lots to do with regional food issues. Just thought I would plug it into this conversation. Peace and Love, Dan Jonathan,
To answer the question at the end of your post: no. I don’t know of other farmer’s markets that do this.

I do know of many farmer’s markets that have been attempting to streamline the process by which WIC and EBT (Food Stamp) dollars enter into the markets. In this way, many local farmers have tapped into a consumer based subsidy of their local products. Pretty neat. If your farmer’s market isn’t currently EBT ready, perhaps you could work with them to make that happen. Obviously this has little to do with food waste, but lots to do with regional food issues. Just thought I would plug it into this conversation.
Peace and Love,
Dan

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