Americans waste 133 billion pounds of food per year. These five great suggestions will help you repurpose your food waste and help the environment.
Americans waste 133 billion pounds of food annually—a tremendous amount representing 31% of our total annual food production. This inattention to food waste impacts resource conservation and food security while causing 18 percent of landfill methane emissions. Reducing our food waste can feed millions of people while mitigating the effects of climate change. This article will explore five ways to do our part to reduce food waste.
Americans waste 133 billion pounds of food per year. These five great suggestions will help you repurpose your food waste and help the environment.
Americans waste 133 billion pounds of food annually—a tremendous amount representing 31% of our total annual food production. This inattention to food waste impacts resource conservation and food security while causing 18 percent of landfill methane emissions. Reducing our food waste can feed millions of people while mitigating the effects of climate change. This article will explore five ways to do our part to reduce food waste.
Returning Nutrients To The Soil
Composting is one of the easiest green methods to recycle your food waste. Regular collection trucks are available in many communities to collect organic yard trash, leftover food, dry leaves, and grass clippings.
Consider making a pile of the following somewhere on your property:
- Greens—weeds, leftover fruit and vegetables, coffee grounds, and grass clippings. Greens are any plant matter that is still "alive." They provide nitrogen.
- Browns—ash from the fireplace, dead leaves, wood chips, twigs, paper, cardboard, and newspaper. These "dead" organic materials provide carbon.
You can use a large bin or make a pile in the corner of your yard. Either way, turn the pile regularly. Once it starts to decompose and become black and crumbly, you can start using it to fertilize your flower beds or garden veggies. People who live in apartments or have tiny yards don't have to feel left out—you can start composting indoors.
Don't Neglect Any Edible Parts Of Your Veggies
Unfortunately, too many people are in the habit of throwing out perfectly edible food if it's not part of the current recipe they are working on. For example, roast potato peels instead of throwing them out. They make a delicious snack somewhere between potato chips and French fries. Other peels, particularly apples, make similarly delicious toppings or stand-alone snacks. Consider freezing citrus peels so you can use the zest later.
You should also consider keeping edible seeds. For instance, pumpkin seeds are a healthy snack. Whether you roast them or not, they add flavor to salads, soups, stews, and almost any other dish. We also refuse to eat perfectly edible parts of everyday food staples. For example, the green tops of celery, beets, turnips, carrots, radishes, and fennel are all edible.
Not only are the uneaten tops of many veggies rich in the same vitamins and minerals as the parts we do eat, they often have more. Sometimes, they even contain minerals missing from the more common parts of the plant—so consider including them as a refreshing and healthy addition to soup, salad, pesto, etc.
Use Root Ends To Re-Grow Vegetables
Even without a ton of work or expertise in gardening, you can re-grow many vegetables from kitchen scraps. All you need is a little patience and some fresh water. After a couple of weeks, many vegetables put down new roots, some do it sooner.
We often chop vegetables like celery, lettuce, scallions, ginger, and fennel rather generously around the root end as we prepare them in the kitchen. Next time, keep the part you would normally throw out. Then, put each into a glass of water, standing it upright with the roots at the bottom, and remember to change the water daily.
This strategy requires patience and probably won't yield enough veggies to meet all of your needs. However, it gives you the satisfaction of cutting down pressure on the food system and providing clean, healthy produce for you and your family.
Convert Food Into Household Cleaners
Many food scraps include natural acids and other compounds that are excellent for cleaning. For example, lemons are one of the best general household cleaners that money can buy. Not only do they remove foul odors from cutting boards, refrigerators, and drains, but they can clean windows and metallic surfaces to a shine.
Of course, lemons are not the only food product you can use for cleaning. The starch in potatoes makes them ideal for polishing glass and metal surfaces to a sparkle. Simply use the moist side of potato skin to massage the surface of your stainless-steel sink, wait a minute, then wipe it clean with a damp towel. In addition, wipe your mirrors with potato peels instead of using a blue chemical spray. After a minute or two, buff them with a soft, dry cloth.
Use Safe Food Waste For Animal Feed
According to the EPA's Food Recovery Hierarchy, diverting food waste to animal feed is an excellent way to reduce strain on the food system. Indeed, using human food waste for livestock, especially pigs, has been around for millennia. Consider donating your plant-based food scraps to local farms or organizations that specialize in transferring them.
Each state has its own laws governing food scraps for animal feed. Several jurisdictions in the United States prohibit using meat, dairy, and high-salt items as animal feed since they can cause illness. Contact your neighborhood waste removal organization to find out what food scraps you may give to a farm or a zoo. For more information, you can also get in touch with farmers and livestock owners in your area.
Reducing Food Waste Helps Humanity And The Environment
An excess of food waste strains our already inefficient food system. It pollutes the environment, drives up costs, and sometimes prevents food from getting where it needs to go—into the mouths of the hungry. However, the five ideas outlined above can empower us to take responsibility in our homes to reduce waste and do our part for a more eco-friendly food supply.
Key Takeaways
- Be social—if you're unsure how to start any of the ideas above, talk to people in your neighborhood and on social media. Many groups are trying to spread the word about sustainable living and would love to help you get started.
- Be collaborative—some businesses have communal composting facilities in the form of bins or crates. You should consider having one installed in your workplace to encourage all your colleagues to live a bit greener.
- Be integrated—focusing on food recovery is but one part of living a more sustainable life. Every item in this article becomes more effective when you source your food from local, sustainable producers.
