Monthly Archives: May 2012

Waste Awareness Down the Drain?

You know that one about the perfect being the enemy of the good? I’m not sure about the perfect’s relationship with the mediocre, but a recent Philadelphia campaign personifies that word. Last week, the city unveiled a pilot program to install garbage disposals in 200 homes to reduce food waste going to landfills. Now–there’s some […]

May 30, 2012 | Posted in Composting, Energy, Waste Stream | Comments closed

Friday Buffet

The uneaten food fee at buffets makes an appearance in NYC. It’s an interesting strategy, but can prompt overeating. The real solution–get rid of all you can eat. — — National Restaurant Association Show exhibitors donated enough food from their 4-day show to make nearly 42,000 meals. And something tells me the donated foods are top […]

May 25, 2012 | Posted in Friday Buffet, Household, Restaurant, Waste Stream | Comments closed

Brand New Bycatch Bylaw

Last week, I touched on bycatch–fish caught unintentionally while trying for a different species–as a major source of seafood waste. One thing I neglected to mention is that quotas and regulations often make it difficult for fishermen to sell (or donate bycatch). That’s why the new Oregon law allowing the use of what are currently called […]

May 23, 2012 | Posted in Food Recovery | Comments closed

Big-time Bycatch

When it comes to food waste in the seafood industry, the key buzzword is bycatch. That term represents the creatures caught as a byproduct when fishing for another type of seafood. And the numbers are shocking–as much as half of fish caught in the Europe are being thrown back into the ocean, dead. This bycatch occurs […]

May 18, 2012 | Posted in Environment | Comments closed

In Defense of Real Food

Here’s exhibit A on why I love farmers’ markets (and vegetable gardens). Where else is there a market for something as unique-looking as this?! The conventional retail system has no use for this kind of cucumber. It’d never leave the farm. But–you’ll never believe it–this curvy cuke tasted a) like a regular cucumber and b) […]

May 16, 2012 | Posted in Alphabet Produce, Farmers' Market, Personal | Comments closed

AntarctiCan You Believe How Far They Ship Waste?

What’s Antarctican food waste doing in Spokane? Why, it’s being burned, of course. Apparently, life on Antarctica is like camping–pack it in, pack it out. Not being able to dig a hole (to build a landfill) and having to follow the Arctic Treaty, Antarctic researchers have to send all of their refuse elsewhere. Most everything […]

May 14, 2012 | Posted in Composting, Energy, Environment, Waste Stream | Comments closed

Friday Buffet

A Washington supermarket has an on-site contraption that converts food waste into liquid fertilizer. Organics alchemy, in action! — — The 42 million pounds of food that Forgotten Harvest will recover this year is…a lot. The most, actually. — — Piles of Indian wheat rotting by the side of the road? What a shame; what […]

May 11, 2012 | Posted in Composting, Food Recovery, Friday Buffet, General, Personal, Supermarket | Comments closed

Wednesday Quiz

What are you looking at? Leave your guess as a comment. And yes, it was edible.

May 9, 2012 | Posted in Household, Personal | Comments closed

Bay State Bombshell

In case you missed the big news, Massachusetts is set to ban commercial food waste from landfills by 2014. I included it in Friday’s post, but it deserves its own space. The new regulations would herald a major change–a few cities have similar rules on the books, but no state does. The ruling would prompt […]

May 7, 2012 | Posted in Composting, Energy, Environment, Restaurant, Waste Stream | Comments closed

Friday Buffet

This Just In: Massachusetts is planning to ban commercial food waste from landfills. That means large restaurants, hospitals, universities and other large generators would have to compost or create energy with their waste. The ban, likely to go into effect in 2014, would be the first of its kind in the U.S. — — Chuck Schumer […]

May 4, 2012 | Posted in Composting, Restaurant, Supermarket, Waste Stream | Comments closed