Category Archives: International

Learning from ‘Lo Spreco’

I recently had the opportunity to help lead a Penn course on sustainability and the food-water-energy nexus, with an emphasis on food waste. The bulk of the course consisted of a week-long trip to Italy. Why Italy? First, why ever not? Second, course instructor Steve Finn wanted to explore food waste through the lens of [...]

May 9, 2017 | Also posted in Campaigns, History and Culture, Personal | Comments closed

France Fights Food Waste

The French take their food seriously. And now we know that they don’t look too kindly on it being wasted. In mid-April, a government-appointed committee released a proposal to tackle food waste in France (PDF in French). The Fight Against Food Waste (Lutte Contre Le Gaspillage Alimentaire – #GaspillageAlimentaire) suggests 36 ways to do just [...]

May 1, 2015 | Also posted in Leftovers | Comments closed

Friday Buffet

Here’s a roundup of recent wasted food news, from the sublime to the ridiculous. With the former, a UK org called Hubbub is pushing the humble (and potentially artistic) pancake as a way to reduce wasted food. Why pancakes? Because they’re so flippin‘ versatile! On the latter, the notion of ‘raccoon meat’ certainly feels disgusting at [...]

February 13, 2015 | Also posted in Campaigns, Leftovers, Supermarket, Waste Ban | Comments closed

Could Bump Mark Debunk Date Labels?

If you’re like me, you love innovations that prevent food from being wasted and hate the inefficiency of expiration dates. That’s why I’m high on Bump Mark, an in-package fresh food indicator now in development. Solveiga Pakstaite, a recent university grad in Britain, created Bump Mark after winning the James Dyson Award to do so. As you [...]

January 28, 2015 | Also posted in Food Safety, Household | Comments closed

Looking Back, Then Ahead

2014 has been a banner year for fighting food waste. There many successes to celebrate, including those on the policy level: Massachusetts’ ban on commercial food waste to landfills went into effect on October 1, The Milan Protocol included a goal of 50 percent reduction in food waste by 2020, and the USDA streamlined procedures for [...]

December 31, 2014 | Also posted in Legislation, Waste Ban | Comments closed

Vancouver Hoovers Up Food Waste

January 1 is a great day to be a Vancouver trash collector. Starting then, the regular trash will be blessedly free of food waste. A city-wide ban on disposing food in landfills goes into effect in 2015. While the practice will technically be outlawed, Metro Vancouver won’t begin fining anyone for six months, and even [...]

December 19, 2014 | Also posted in Anaerobic Digestion, Waste Ban, Waste Stream | 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 Environment, Personal | Comments closed

Friday Buffet

Scary data point of the day: in India, 40 percent of the food by value does not reach consumers. And yes, this is a nation where 47 percent of children are underweight. — — If all eyes are on Boston, they will be so for a while! The (commercial) food waste landfill ban doesn’t kick in until [...]

August 15, 2014 | Also posted in Anaerobic Digestion, Food Recovery, Friday Buffet, Waste Ban | Comments closed

Bien fait, Intermarché

I may be the last to write about the brilliant Inglorious Fruits and Vegetables campaign from French supermarket chain Intermarché, but I want to say that it’s the best initiative on food waste I’ve seen from one company. Selling ugly (moches) fruits and vegetables at a 30% discount after raising awareness with a line of [...]

July 25, 2014 | Also posted in Campaigns, Supermarket | Comments closed

Visualizing UK Waste

Here’s a neat infographic on food waste in Britain, courtesy of Rangemaster. One of the more telling details: 86 million chickens are wasted every year in the UK. What the cluck?! Another effective part of the infographic is the Wembley Stadium indicator. But it’s worth noting: UK food waste would fill that stadium 8 times [...]

July 17, 2014 | Also posted in Infographic, Stats | Comments closed