Category Archives: Environment

Wasted Food Dude–Backyard Methane??

Here’s the latest installment of my food waste advice column, Dear Wasted Food Dude, which also runs on BioCycle‘s site and their e-bulletin, BioCycle Food Recycling News.  Related: send questions! All food-waste-related queries are welcome–big or small, true or false, named or anonymous. Send stuff to wastedfood {at} gmail or @wastedfood. I bet we could all use a diversion from politics… — Dear Wasted [...]

February 1, 2017 | Also posted in Composting, Wasted Food Dude | Comments closed

It’s Your Day, Environment!

Today is World Environment Day. So buy the environment a drink. Or better yet, don’t waste any food. I’m not a huge fan of these kinds of days–except for National Ice Cream Day (July 19), of course–but they do force us to take stock. And for me, that means reflecting on the significant environmental impact of [...]

June 5, 2015 | Posted in Environment | Comments closed

‘Every Bit of the Animal’ — A Maria Finn Q&A

Maria Finn is an author, journalist and artist. While she was an Autodesk Artist in Residence in late 2014, she set out to change our perception of food and food waste. Following an evening spent shucking oysters, she found herself faced with a mountain of shells. Instead of discarding them, she created beautiful oyster shell tiles that now [...]

May 18, 2015 | Also posted in Seafood | Comments closed

A Protocol Worth Pushing

I spent the last few days in Milan at the Barilla Center for Food and Nutrition 2014 Forum on Food and Nutrition (you can watch the food waste panel). It was thrilling to be a part of a gathering with the humble little goal of reforming our global food system. How does the BCFN plan to [...]

December 5, 2014 | Also posted in International, Personal | Comments closed

Monday Roundup

Plenty of news from Food Waste World recently: There’s an increased likelihood of the EU banning “best before” labels on shelf-stable foods like grains, canned goods and frozen items. The Dutch and Swedish farming ministers sent a letter recommending that course of action to the EU Agriculture Council, who discussed the issue today (but didn’t [...]

May 19, 2014 | Also posted in Casino, College, Composting, International, Waste Ban | Comments closed

Webinar Questions Answered

I recently had the honor of giving the first ever webinar for Food Tank. At least that’s what I’m told happened. I just spoke into my computer and hoped that people were listening. And based on the array of questions, at least a few folks were! While we allotted 15 minutes for questions, that time just [...]

May 2, 2014 | Also posted in Composting, Energy, General | Comments closed

Documenting a Week of Waste

With their Waste in Focus project, the wonderful team of photographer Peter Menzel and writer Faith D’Aluisio are doing for waste what they did for food in Hungry Planet: What the World Eats. In the project, released last week and slated for an Earth Day exhibit in New York City’s Union Square, eight families of varying geography and backgrounds [...]

April 15, 2014 | Also posted in Household, Waste Stream | Comments closed

Food for Thought

I just came across this recent EPA infographic on waste and particularly enjoyed this portion: That 95% statistic comes from the EPA’s Municipal Solid Waste report, which shows that composting levels have doubled from 2008 to 2012. (It went from 2.3% to 4.8%.) While those low amounts enable such dramatic improvement, at least we’re improving! I also [...]

April 4, 2014 | Also posted in Campaigns, Household, Stats | Comments closed

Expect Big Changes with US Food Waste

There’s MAJOR NEWS in the battle against food waste–President Obama plans to issue an Executive Order making it illegal to throw away food. The Executive Order, helped forward by First Lady Michelle Obama’s urging, will amount to a de facto national ban on food waste. An Obama administration official with knowledge of the plans said [...]

April 1, 2014 | Also posted in Energy, General | Comments closed

Coming Attractions: Food Waste Protocol

The World Resources Institute just announced plans to create a Global Food Loss and Waste Measurement Protocol. Not since 1984 and Goldie Hawn’s glory days have I been so excited about the word ‘protocol.’ WRI, a DC-based think tank, is creating this set of guidelines to help countries and companies measure and monitor food waste/loss. The GFLWP, [...]

October 24, 2013 | Also posted in International, Stats | Comments closed