Two quick notes:
–The 13.9% stat is a bit misleading. When you factor in recycling of all materials, food scraps make up 20.5% of what ends up in the landfill (see table 11).

–Waste incineration has its drawbacks, too.
–

An article in Harvest reports that, often, more than half of cattle feed comes from food manufacturing excess. The mix of scraps and seconds that used to be the domain of hogs, is becoming increasingly common with cattle.

My first thought: what a nice use of excess materials that keeps food from going to the landfill. My second: What kind of stuff are we talking about?

Jeff Clausen manages 3,000 cattle in two feedlots outside of Omaha, Neb. He says the majority of his cattle’s feed is bakery byproduct – bread, dough and pastries that get burned or misformulated.

Hmm…But they also use Quaker Oats byproduct, which feels a little better. But as we keep reading, we learn that:

Even candy manufacturers have seconds. For example, the Hershey Company sells their candy that isn’t up to snuff for humans to the ag company Cargill, for use in livestock feed.

Rest assured, though–Twizzlers aren’t included, as they’re too gummy. Just a guess, but feeding excess candy, pastries, and sugary cereal (in addition to below-grade soybean oil) to livestock must have side effects.

I could be wrong, but I’m guessing it isn’t healthy for cattle to consume high amounts of sugar.  A quick web search reveals that there is such a thing as bovine diabetes. Going one step further, do those of us who eat beef want to consume meat of unhealthy or sugar-addled animals?

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How did I not know there was a Discard Studies blog before now? A recent post features a fabulous array of infographics, or “theaters of proof.” Enjoy the show.

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Smart phones can help ensure food safety? And potentially let you see the cow your milk came from? Smile, Bessie! Or Cow 8261.

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Compost, trash or disposal? Easy decision, right? Not so much, as we learn in this helpful flow chart.

The pride of Poughkeepsie (N.Y.) won the EPA WasteWise Game Day Challenge in the Per Capita Organics Reduction category. If you select ‘Organics Reduction’ in the pulldown menu, you will see that tiny Marist destroyed the competition, outpacing both the green giants at the University of Colorado at Boulder and those Harvard overachievers.

And it seems Marist may have a bit of a dynasty brewing. They won the inaugural organics challenge in 2010. Go Red Foxes!

Check here to see if your school participated.

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Statistics New Zealand just released some interesting…statistics on food waste. For example, produce makes up more than half of (capital K) Kiwi food waste. And 27% of the country composts–wow!

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A  partnership between Publix supermarkets and Waste Management has yielded a new composting facility in Florida. The Organics Recycling Facility in Okeechobee will turn food waste from 42 Publix stores into a useful soil amendment.

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This piece in The Hindu begins with this hammer blow:

Wasting food is a crime against humanity.

The rest of the story works, too, detailing food waste in India.

That study, much to my delight, lists the amount of wasted food as a major obstacle to sustainability. The report notes the juxtaposition of “a significant amount of edible food waste that is sent to landfills” with 17% of citizens being food insecure.

To address that incongruity, the report recommends creating a Food Waste Task Force to push diversion. That term includes promoting food recovery and composting to recover food’s nutrients, among other things.

The report also pushes for school gardens to teach children where their food comes from. And then there’s the suggestion of building regional meat and seafood processing plants, both of which could create energy from the waste byproducts they create.

The report is definitely worth a read, if for no other reason than to see how beneficial a regional food system can be. And when that plan incorporates food waste diversion, it’s all the more heartening.

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The Occupy Wall Street gang gets plenty of donated food. But their supporters also include “people that know where the good Dumpsters are.”

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Leave No Leftover Behind. Love, love, love it.

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It’s neat that someone calculated that restaurants in greater Taipei (in Taiwan) squander $60 million per year in food waste. But also–that’s not cool.

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Finally, here are some ideas on how you can help your supermarket stop wasting food.

Hopefully the Houston Independent School District does decide to allow students more choice in what lunch items they take. And just seeing the footage of the mass-produced school lunches makes one want to visit The Lunch Box.

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Good to know that some Arizona food scraps are going to hogs. I’ll be visiting a similar scheme in Las Vegas later in the summer.

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Mary Baldwin College of Virginia reduced waste by 60% during their Sustainable Meal Week! Really shows how much fat is there for the trimming.

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Whether you call them Freegans or foragers, more Spaniards are eating from the trash. And here’s a look at whether Dumpster diving jibes with Jewish values.

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Finally, the Recyclemania results are in. While the exercise has its merits, I’ve always been confused by the Food Service Organics category. Shouldn’t we reward reduction (fewest pounds per student?) instead of rewarding schools for using and composting the most pounds? In that case, congrats to Nova Southeastern Univ. for producing 0.00 pounds of food waste per student!