Monthly Archives: November 2011

Greetings from Milan

Buongiorno, friends. I’m at the Barilla’s International Forum on Food and Nutrution. I just participated in a panel on food waste, which was pretty fascinating. First, it was heartening to experience so many intelligent people considering the topic of wasted food. Second, the level of research on the topic in Europe is impressive. And the […]

November 30, 2011 | Posted in International, Personal | Comments closed

Post-Turkey-Day Buffet

Happy (de facto) National Leftover Day! Join the crowd and enjoy the world’s best sandwich–the turkey-stuffing-cranberry goodness. Gravy and mayo are optional, but at least one is recommended. — — Don’t throw out that carcass! First, you can make a great soup with it. Then, if you’re in Rhode Island, you can compost it via […]

November 25, 2011 | Posted in History and Culture, Household, International | Comments closed

Be Thankful, Not Wasteful

Thanksgiving celebrates plenty. Yet, for many of us in America, every day and every meal don’t look don’t look all that different from Thanksgiving. Given that reality, it’s all the more important to be mindful of our good fortune on Thanksgiving. And while we should certainly enjoy the day, we don’t honor anyone or anything […]

November 23, 2011 | Posted in Household | 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

Can Unilever Unite Restaurants Against Waste?

A recent survey found that 80 percent of U.S. restaurant customers were concerned by the amount of food being tossed at restaurants and cafeterias. But shouldn’t it be 100 percent? Either way, it’s nice to know that Unilever, who commissioned the study, has launched the United Against Waste campaign to get restaurateurs…united against waste. Once restaurateurs […]

November 16, 2011 | Posted in Restaurant | Comments closed

“Feeding” Back

This coming Friday, thousands of Londoners will get a free lunch made from food that would otherwise have been tossed. Feeding the 5,000 returns to Trafalgar Square in a massive food waste awareness event. London’s Mayor, celebrity chefs and food waste activist Tristram Stuart will all speak on Friday, raising awareness for the fact that […]

November 14, 2011 | Posted in Food Recovery, International | Comments closed

Friday Buffet

Forget Greece. The real news out of Europe this week was the Environment Commissioner targeting a 50% food waste reduction in the EU by 2020. Beautiful. — — Not sure about the viability of replicating this school without Titanic/Avatar money, but it’s pretty neat–a zero waste elementary school in Malibu. Sure, they’re composting. But what […]

November 11, 2011 | Posted in Composting, International, Restaurant, School | Comments closed

Sainsbury’s Savvy Moves

Sainsbury’s keeps upping the stakes on how a supermarket can do the right thing regarding food waste. The British retailer commissioned research on how purchased food isn’t eaten and found that the average household tosses 10% of what they buy. And that comes at a cost–of about £50 per month. Sainsbury’s also worked w/ quasi-governmental […]

November 9, 2011 | Posted in International, Supermarket | Comments closed

Monday Leftovers

Finally! Someone quantified just how much greener it is to reduce food waste than to compost it. The Stockholm Environmental Institute found that avoiding waste has 30 times the benefit of composting, when it comes to cutting greenhouse gas emissions. — — If you want to see some beautiful pictures of volunteers gleaning broccoli and cabbage, […]

November 7, 2011 | Posted in Environment, Food Recovery, Stats | Comments closed