Monthly Archives: May 2013

Baby Steps: The Slow Spread of US AD

When it comes to anaerobic digestion in the US, any news is good news. Even noncommittal, vague comments like those from a spokesperson for Ralphs Grocery Co. Ralphs is one of the Kroger-owned supermarket chains involved with the anaerobic digestion system at a Los Angeles distribution center that process 55,000 tons of food waste per […]

May 28, 2013 | Posted in Anaerobic Digestion, Energy, Supermarket | Comments closed

Friday Buffet

Tesco released a major report yesterday called What Matters Now: Using Our Scale For Good. One of the three ambitions was to lead in reducing food waste globally. The massive, UK-based retailer plans to use its industry standing to prompt suppliers and manufacturers to reduce food waste, while helping consumers do the same. For more […]

May 24, 2013 | Posted in Composting, Restaurant, School, Supermarket | Comments closed

USDA Challenges US to Waste Less Food

I’ve been fairly critical of the USDA in the past for not doing enough to combat food waste. But I’m excited to report that the Department of Agriculture is will launch the U.S. Food Waste Challenge in a few weeks. The campaign, in conjunction with the EPA, will challenge food producers, manufacturers and retailers–really everyone […]

May 22, 2013 | Posted in Farm, Legislation | Comments closed

That’s Bananas…

I spend a lot of time in supermarkets, and I’ve never seen this… …until this weekend. No idea what is going on here, but it was a pretty clean cut straight through that banana.

May 20, 2013 | Posted in Supermarket | Comments closed

Friday Buffet

Much of the D.C. deer population have completed a quick journey from USDA sharpshooters scopes to soup kitchen plates. D.C. Central Kitchen recently received 600 pounds of ground venison from the National Park Service’s (necessary/unnecessary?) deer cull in Rock Creek Park. — — If supermarkets aren’t going to dramatically reduce their waste, the least they can do […]

May 17, 2013 | Posted in Energy, International, Supermarket | Comments closed

Packaging Pros and Cons

I’ve been thinking a lot about packaging recently, as I’ve been writing something about Austin’s mostly packaging-free grocer, in.gredients. From a life-cycle assessment perspective, packaging is environmentally harmful. It’s just more stuff we’re using oil to create, often unnecessarily, that usually ends up in a landfill. Yet, it’s not that simple.  Smarter packaging could limit […]

May 16, 2013 | Posted in Waste Stream | Comments closed

Monday Buffet

Wasted food = wasted water. This handy Ecocentric blog post reminds us of that truth. — — Mixed news from Massachusetts: The DEP confirmed its upcoming 2014 commercial food waste ban and pushed for a 30 percent waste reduction by 2020 (Hooray!). But it also announced that they would remove the moratorium on building new […]

May 13, 2013 | Posted in International, School, Supermarket, Waste Stream | Comments closed

FRN gets BUX

It’s always nice to see good empowered. Especially when that good is an organization run by young adults. Yesterday, the youth-powered Food Recovery Network received a cool $150,000 grant from the Sodexo Foundation to redistribute edible but unsellable food to people who need it. With this grant money, FRN will bring on full-time staff, provide […]

May 8, 2013 | Posted in College, Food Recovery | Comments closed

Building Toward Less Waste

City Harvest does fabulous work recovering edible but unsellable food in New York City. Now, with a new, 45,000 square foot facility in Queens, they’ll be even more efficient in their work. Watch City Harvest’s new food rescue facility being built…very quickly!

May 3, 2013 | Posted in Food Recovery | Comments closed

Iowa Project Fights Food Waste

Not every state has its own Waste Reduction Center. Even fewer have a state-wide Food Waste Reduction Project. Actually, I can’t think of one. While Iowa has long had the former (a part of the University of Northern Iowa for 25 years), it just now has the latter with the launch of the Iowa Food […]

May 2, 2013 | Posted in Waste Stream | Comments closed