On the heels of Friday’s major outcry against waste by the EU Parliament, the head of the UN’s Food and Agriculture Organization spoke out against food waste this weekend. In other words, this issue is picking up steam. — — How did I not know there was a Discard Studies blog before now? A recent [...]
While the US grocery industry is slowly turning to the topic of food waste–huzzah!–their British counterparts are already a year into a voluntary agreement to trim waste. More than 50 UK grocery retailers have signed on to The Courtauld Commitment Phase 2, which sets many waste reduction goals. Food is one of them. Interestingly, the food [...]
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 [...]
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, [...]
In the wake of recent disasters, the Mississippi Gulf Coast communities came together to create a plan for sustainability. One aspect of the plan centers on food and one particular document provides a Recipe for a Sustainable Coast. That study, much to my delight, lists the amount of wasted food as a major obstacle to [...]
1.5 percent. That’s the percentage of all U.S. greenhouse gas emissions stemming from wasted food, according to CleanMetrics. It’s not a massive figure, but consider this: The average person’s food waste contributes almost 5 percent of the emissions of the typical car. And 1.5 percent is a conservative estimate, as it doesn’t include restaurant waste. So [...]
Happy World Population Day! Later this year, we’ll hit 7 million people. That’s why one of the 7 billion actions should be getting more efficient with our food. In other words, to waste less. Just something to think about the next time you find an article about changing agriculture to feed the growing planet that [...]
One of the real problems with wasting food is that we also squander the embedded resources. Mainly, oil and water (and I have found a way to mix the two here). While I usually focus on oil, water is increasingly coming to the fore. To wit, this fascinating Dutch study that tallies foods’ water footprint. In [...]
Here’s the NYT Green blog’s take on the FAO food waste study. Amen: Further research in the area is urgent, especially considering that food security is a major concern in large parts of the developing world. — — This blog post on the FAO study is well done, but it overlooks the cost of unharvested [...]
Yesterday, I participated in my first webinar. Once you get past the oddness of talking into a void with no audio or video feedback, it’s a neat way to reach a wide audience. The event featured two other speakers, both EPA employees who work on food waste reduction. One of them brought up the EPA’s [...]
