Monthly Archives: September 2009

Another Kind of Waste

I had such high hopes for the Chicago Tribune piece “Schools Promote Waste-Free Lunches.” When I read that headline, I thought of food waste, not packaging. As you can guess, the article is almost solely about the latter. Yes, keeping food packaging from the landfill is a noble cause. But, I would argue, not as […]

September 29, 2009 | Posted in Composting, School, Vermiculture | Comments closed

Friday Buffet

I was excited to see that Washington & Lee is recovering food at a Walmart! Nice to have some of those giant stores onboard. If they can do that nationwide, we’d really be getting somewhere. While we’re at it, how cool is the Campus Kitchen at W & L?! — — Talk about a local […]

September 25, 2009 | Posted in College, Events, Food Recovery, Friday Buffet, International | Comments closed

Supermarket Stretching

Great news from Maine: In her Diner’s Journal blog, Julia Moskin wrote about a local grocer that finds a way to use up most of what it stocks. Oh, those frugal Mainers! Moskin’s reported details on Rosemont Markets, a kind of outtake from her piece on Portland’s food scene, seem so obvious in hindsight: When the local […]

September 23, 2009 | Posted in Repurposing, Supermarket | Comments closed

Goodness Gracious, Gazpacho!

This Friday I made gazpacho, or the cold soup of Spain, as it’s known in my house (from a favorite menu description). The soup served as the final destination for many of my end-of-season garden tomatoes. I think the soup will enter our regular rotation next summer, as it’s easy, tasty and a nice way to […]

September 21, 2009 | Posted in Garden, Household, Personal | Comments closed

Friday Buffet

There’s much ado about kitchen bins in Britain, where there’s talk of a landfill food waste ban. I like seeing the different angles, from diverting food from the waste stream and its environmental benefits to Big Brother/fines. (Can you guess which way my bias slants?) — — The Telegraph brings us this slide show of produce oddities–all of […]

September 18, 2009 | Posted in Farm, Friday Buffet, International, Waste Stream | Comments closed

Now Serving: More Donations

The other NRA, the National Restaurant Association, is getting more serious about food donation. The restaurant group announced a new partnership with the Food Donation Connection, a kind of food recovery matchmaker. This is great news, as many restaurants are hesitant to donate their excess food. Unfounded fears of liability and inertia/laziness are two major […]

September 15, 2009 | Posted in Food Recovery, Restaurant | Comments closed

Getting My Fill

I write plenty about keeping food out of landfills to prevent greenhouse gas emissions. So it was high time I visited a landfill specifically to see what a few methane handling systems look like. Friday, I went to Orange (County, N.C.) Regional Landfill where my trash used to go, before I moved to the next town. My […]

September 14, 2009 | Posted in Environment, Waste Stream | Comments closed

Friday Buffet

Here’s a little drilling down on the cultural barriers to asking for doggy bags in the UK. — — Green Seal restaurant standards just received a nice boost in the form of national recognition (from ANSI). Not that I have a clue about design, but I’m still not wild about the Green Seal logo–it seems more blue […]

September 11, 2009 | Posted in Composting, Household, International, Tree Gleaning | Comments closed

Doggy Days of Summer

Happy Zero Waste Week! Well, at least that is being celebrated in the UK. Here in the States, it’s the post-holiday ‘Wait, What Day is Today?’ Week. Back to the UK, though, I came across this piece on the recent surge in doggy bag use there. I hadn’t realized the practice of taking home restaurant leftovers […]

September 9, 2009 | Posted in International, Restaurant | Comments closed

Tech Tuesday

Who says technology and food waste avoidance don’t mix? That combination works quite well–just ask LeanPath. Which brings us to RFID tags, a microchip with an antenna that transmits information wirelessly to a reader. These tags are are now being used in Europe to track pallets’ progress through the “cool chain.” A Dutch company, a German retailer and […]

September 8, 2009 | Posted in International, Supermarket, Technology | Comments closed