Wasted Food

Don’t look now but “trayless” dining is really taking off. On Earth Day, 300 colleges with Sodexo (they’ve dropped the ‘h’) foodservice went without trays. That means I’ll be plenty busy updating my Trayless tab.

The press release (and company blog entry) provided the first estimate of the water savings trayless dining brings–200 gallons conserved for every 1,000 meals. Considering most schools serve more than that number of meals daily, that’s no mere drop in the bucket, so to speak.

More recently, ARAMARK e-mailed me this bombshell: “It is our hope that all of our schools in the southeast region go tray-less by Fall 2008″ — Jim Ludwiczak, Regional Vice-President, Southeast Region, ARAMARK Higher Education.

Wow.

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Here’s a nice editorial from Rowan University’s student newspaper about not wasting food. And–surprise!–it doesn’t even mention trays.

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It’s not specifically related to food waste, but the low carbon diet is another sustainable dining measure taking off at colleges.

I went to a meeting of the Food Diversion Task Force yesterday and left thinking about food banks. A representative from the local food bank told the group how donations are down significantly.

As food prices rise and manufacturers consolidate, there is more emphasis placed on reducing “shrink,” or product that they can’t market. While food manufacturers may waste less food (yay!*) as smaller operations are bought out by larger corporations keen on efficiency, it just makes food banks work harder.

And the rise of the secondary food market–dollar stores, Big Lots, etc. that take foods with dated packaging and food closer to its sell-by-date–has cut into a traditional food bank donation stream.

Meanwhile, food banks’ recent emphasis on nutrition–a noble goal–hasn’t made their task easier. Around here, there’s a lot less produce to donate thanks to the drought. And a move toward perishable food (and away from canned goods) leads to higher operating costs because they must recover that food in refrigerated trucks. You think your gas bills are high? Try driving around with a heavy load kept under 40 degrees!

All that means harder times for food banks. Which makes me think it’s a good time to make a donation of time, food or money to your local food bank.

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* Not to say that food waste overall is decreasing. If anything, it’s on the rise as supermarkets offer more prepared food (of which a large amount is tossed) and more Americans eat out (where there’s more plate waste and less saving of leftovers).

Good news, America: Your congressmen are composting.

Well, at least the ones dining at the mundane Capitol dining facilities. The Longworth Cafeteria and other federal feed halls have had a composting program since the fall.

This composting is part of the Green the Capitol initiative, which is halving the amount of waste the House sends to landfills. In Longworth, super delegates and their staff separate their trash into “compostable” and “non-compostable” slots at recycling stations. Included in the former are the biodegradable plates and cutlery.

After a trip through an in-building “pulper” that removes 70 percent of the liquid, the remaining “slaw” is trucked about 23 miles to Chesterfield Farms, in Crofton, Md.

No word yet on whether the excessive “pork” streaming from the Capitol causes problems at the composting facility.

It’s Earth Day–stop reading this and go outside!

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Welcome back. Or perhaps you never left…Anyway, for your persistence, here are some tips to help you help our planet by cutting food waste:

You can ‘green your refrigerator,’ making it more energy efficient and reducing food waste.

You can feed your family for less.

You can compost at home.

You can start a composting program in your school. There are some really detailed materials online to help.

You can go to the first carbon-neutral baseball game, or at least one where food waste is composted. Note: you probably don’t want to fly to Seattle or San Diego just to do so…

Or you can just go for a walk, run, bike ride, etc. When you get back, I’m sure you’ll be in the mood to avoid wasting food.

Our friends at Chili’s have found a new way to encourage food waste: The Bottomless Express Lunch.

Not content with over-sized portions, Chili’s is pushing waste–and no doubt waistlines–to new levels with this new promotion. The price and use of the word ‘bottomless’ will likely compel customers to eat to “get their money’s worth.” That means many half-eaten bowls of seconds being thrown away.

Nutrition-wise, don’t think you’re in the clear just because the meal only consists of a soup, salad and chips. It’s still Chili’s, home of the 1000-calorie Caesar Salad and the sodium-allowance-doubling Buffalo Chicken Salad.

Finally, how express can a bottomless lunch be and vice versa? From what I read, you’re given the food immediately upon ordering. All the better to begin consuming, “all you care to eat,” as the food industry folks put it.

Just keep in mind that it takes 20 minutes for your stomach to notice it’s full and send that message to your brain. Hopefully that’s not right after you’ve asked for a second or third bowl.

Here’s an article from the newspaper at Iowa’s Luther College, giving the student response to traylessness. The piece was fueled largely by the Facebook group “Caf Trays will destroy the planet!!!! Really?????,” which prompted a letter to the editor complaining about a lack of balance.
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Food recovery in the holy land. Hallelujah!

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Fallen Fruit is a cool site that helps L.A. residents collect fruit from residential trees. I particularly like their manifesto and maps.

Legislative Watch: California State Sen. Jenny Oropeza, D-Long Beach, introduced Senate Bill 1443 that would enable party hosts to contractually obligate hotels and caterers to donate excess food. The bill is set for an April 29 hearing.

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New York City’s Hearst Tower aims to send 95 percent of its food waste to a compost facility. That’s an ambitious plan, but Hearst seems committed to “being green.” It’s encouraging to see more and more U.S. companies “get it.”

Somewhere, Doc Brown is smiling. OK, OK, he’s a fictional character from Back to the Future, but still…

If Metro Vancouver gets its way, it will soon build a plant to convert food waste to fuel. Instead of fueling Deloreans like Doc B did, the plant could power municipal vehicles. Apparently, this is done in Sweden with confiscated booze.

Taking a step back, many worry about the negative impact of biofuels like ethanol. Biofuels production brings a net increase in Greenhouse gas emissions when carbon-absorbing forests and grasslands are burned to yield more cropland. And the competition between food and fuel, among other factors, has sparked serious food price inflation.

That’s why the Vancouver plan makes perfect sense: why not produce biofuel from food that’s just going to be sent to the landfill? Doing so won’t consume any more farm land or the oil and chemicals needed to grow and transport ethanol crops.

But, there’s some debate over the best use for inedible food waste. Some prefer composting. Others would rather see it create energy (via anaerobic digestion) or fuel. Any of these options would be better than the status quo–sending it to the landfill.

BTW, only 2.2 percent of food waste is “recycled” (i.e. doing one of the above options–see page 7).

Oops.

Even I forget about food every once in a while, discovering items after they’ve sprouted tentacles and started torturing the neighborhood.

I’m disappointed about wasting my basket of potatoes, but also a tiny bit proud of how scary these spuds have become. The one on the right almost looks like a brain.

Normally, when I see potatoes sprouting, I’d just take off the sprouts and cook them as soon as possible. I’m pretty good at salvaging old produce. Given this shriveling, however, these potatoes will end up in the compost bin after I’ve filmed Godzilla vs. Potatopus documented their hideousness.

Then again, maybe the potatoes can still power a clock (R.I.P. Mr. Wizard, star of the oh-so-80’s Mr. Wizard’s World).

Anyway, how’d this potato waste happen? Simply put, I didn’t buy the potatoes for a specific meal, but figured I’d add them to some sort of dinner. As I’ve said before, not planning your meals and/or shopping lists leads to wasted food.

My bad.

In February, I gushed about food recovery during Super Bowl week. The NFL Environmental Program teamed with the Arizona non-profit Waste Not to collect more than 93,000 pounds of sanitary, delicious leftovers.

After overseeing Pro Bowl activities in Honolulu (poor guy!) and getting started on next year’s Super Bowl, Jack Groh, director of the NFL Environmental Program, was nice enough to answer some questions by e-mail:

How did Super Bowl food recovery begin?

Prepared food was being donated when I first joined the NFL in 1993-4 but not in a coordinated way. In about 1995-6, we asked to take over coordination of that project since it was a significant source of waste and therefore had an environmental impact. Since then we have worked closely with food banks and food recovery organizations in each host community to maximize the recovery of prepared foods and donate that food to soup kitchens, shelters, churches, etc.

At your average Super Bowl party, how much food is recovered?

We do not work with individual private parties - only large events directly connected to and sanctioned by the NFL or by the local Super Bowl host committee. The total amount collected varies widely from year to year depending on many factors including the weather, the number of sanctioned events, the capabilities of the local food recovery organizations, the geographical location of events, etc.

How much extra food do party planners prepare?

Not exactly sure - they do have their own “yardstick” that they use, depending on how many people attend a particular function.

What foods are recovered from the Super Bowl game itself (amount, kind)?

It varies a great deal each year. Some stadiums have existing arrangements with food recovery organizations - some do not. The type of food varies but usually includes everything from “stadium” food like hot dogs, chips, etc. up to high-end appetizers and desserts served in the suites.

Of the venues you approach to recover food, what proportion (roughly) turn you down now compared to 15 years ago? If they decline to participate, what are their reasons?

Very few decline to participate and the ones that do typically cite liability and corporate policy. In some cases we have helped the local food bank overcome these policies and left them with an ongoing relationship with a facility that did not previously work with them. Since most states have “Good Samaritan” legislation that protects donors, we use that as a starting point to discuss the issue.

Is there a league MVP (player) in terms of their environmental commitment? Is there one team who stands out in supporting the NFL Environmental Program?

There’s no MVP at this time, but several teams including the Philadelphia Eagles, Seattle Seahawks, NY Giants, Miami Dolphins and others have implemented their own independent policies and projects for greening their operations.

Do you have a favorite NFL team?

One of the teams that made an impression on me this year was the NY Giants. They were the first team to go to Super Bowl and get actively involved in the NFL’s environmental initiatives there. The Giants organization participated in both the food recovery and the material donation projects in Arizona…We are hoping to get other Super Bowl teams involved the same way.

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Despite his shrewd dodging of that last question, we all thank Jack for his time and efforts.

Food prices are on the rise domestically (especially for pizza) and even more so in the developing world. While that may prompt home budget adjusting for some, it causes others to go hungry and/or take to the streets.

This weekend in Haiti, unrest caused by inflation brought violence and death. The Prime Minister (but not the President) was ousted. Bad times.

If there’s an upside to this inflation, it may be in forcing us to value food more. I don’t want to play the guilt card–no, there’s no direct correlation to cleaning your plate and feeding a starving child. But it does seem like a decent time to avoid wasting food.

In addition, one could argue that by squandering food, we are all somewhat guilty of driving up the demand and, hence, the prices. This armchair economic analysis is just a theory, but it makes sense to me.