Wasted: The Ugly Truth about Food Waste (and what you can do about it!)
According to some estimates, we waste up to 50% of our total food purchased. That means half of the work the farmers do, half the water used as irrigation, half the oil used to transport the goods, half the time you spend in the grocery store is simply… wasted. Doesn’t that seem crazy? How can I (we) stop wasting?
Step One: Look at the facts- check out this awesome infographic below! From here.
Step Two: Find solutions and get to saving your scraps, making broth, fermenting vegetables, and composting the rest; get tips below from our super conscientious Important Media team!
And here’s some more information from Food Democracy:
- Households dump $43 billion worth of food a year, or about 14 percent of what they buy. That doesn’t include plate scrapings.
- 15 percent of that waste includes products still within their expiration date but never opened.
- 5 percent of American’s leftovers could feed 4 million people for 1 day…
- Reducing food waste by half could reduce adverse environmental impacts by 25% through reduced landfill use, soil depletion and applications of fertilisers, pesticides and herbicides.
Here are some great links from The Important Media Team to help make the most of your food:
Save the last of the Salad dressing
Eat more ‘expired’ foods
Homemade vegetable broth
Be more conscious about holiday meals
No, really, be extra conscious at holiday time
There are so many ways to reduce our food waste!
Tips to help reduce food waste to begin with:
A Kitchen Chalkboard!
Reheat, ferment, shop more often, and garden!
Dumpster Diving… not for everyone!
Clever, Green solutions for all the food that gets wasted anyway:
Local, community based recycling facilities
Making bio-gas from composting foods
Turn it into compost!
Curbside food waste pickup! Yay!
Get the Green Living Ideas book in softcover or PDF for as low as $2.99!
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