Less in the Can: Reducing Food Waste
Editor’s note: We continue to feature specific and practical actions each issue that you can take to help tone down climate change, in this case reducing food waste. The series is written by UCSB lecturer in Environmental Studies, Deborah Williams.
The average American household wastes almost one-third of the food we buy, or about 250 pounds a year.
According to the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), wasted food “is the largest stream of materials in American trash.” Over 42 million tons of wasted food ends up in landfills or combustion facilities a year, generating powerful greenhouse gas methane emissions and other pollutants. The energy and other resources used to grow, transport, manufacture, store, sell and dispose of all of this wasted food also has a significant carbon and pollution footprint.
Wasted food constitutes approximately 11% of the greenhouse gas emissions from the food system, and in the US is equivalent to the emissions from 37 million cars.
We need to waste less food.
Here are some great actions to take:
~ Purchase Strategies: Buy only what you know you can eat in time. Before shopping, double check what you already have, and when you are shopping keep asking yourself the question “can I eat all of this before it spoils?” Look at expiration dates on foods.
~ Storage strategies: To prevent mold, wait to wash berries until you are ready to eat them. For all other produce, when you first get your fruits and vegetables home, remove any spoiled spots, then wash and dry. Because they emit gases that cause other fruits to ripen faster, store apples, bananas and tomatoes by themselves. If you have more meat, bread, or other foods than you can eat in time, freeze them; or, as another possibility to cook and then freeze certain foods to be consumed later.
~ Use food creatively to avoid waste: Instead of throwing food away, ask yourself, is there something else I can do? Here are a few possibilities. If vegetables are past their prime for eating raw, use them in soups, sauces, casseroles or stir fries. If fruits are past their prime, use them in smoothies, bake them or cut them into pieces and freeze them. If bread is a little dried out, consider croutons.
~ Share foods with neighbors and/or friends. Sometimes food comes in large quantities. Sharing the cost and amount of bulk purchases with friends and/or neighbors is economic and fun.
~Donate unused food. Donate shelf stable food to food banks such as the Foodbank of Santa Barbara County, Food Share Ventura County, and Associated Students Food Bank. Also, if you have overloaded fruit trees or gardens, Food Forward has volunteers that will pick them to feed the hungry. Finally, also consider donating food to local animal organizations such as the Santa Barbara Zoo (produce) and BUNS. For a comprehensive list for both North and South County, click here. Also, there is a new app called Olio, designed to facilitate giving away free food items to neighbors.
~ Compost: Among other benefits, composted organics improve soil health and structure, return nutrients to the soil, and improve soil water retention. To read EPA’s excellent “Composting at Home” guidelines and recommendations, click here. Alternatively, you can create an indoor worm composting bin. Also, the County of Santa Barbara offers a discounted composting bin program; and has a terrific composting booklet.
~ Buy ugly / imperfect food: There is a growing market for ugly/imperfect food. Consider being part of it. Click here to read about some options (including Misfits Market and Imperfect Foods).
~Finally, take the EPA “Get Smart: Keep Good Food from Going to Waste” Challenge. It’s both fun and impactful.
There are so many other reasons to reduce food waste. Importantly, doing so saves money. A four-person household can save up to $2,000 by wasting less food.
Then there are equity issues. The EPA notes, “wholesome, nutritious food should feed people, not landfills.” Over 10% of Americans are living in food insecure households.
More generally, the US throws away more food than any other country in the world, nearly 120 billion (yes, billion) pounds every year, which also represents 24% of solid waste in our municipalities. In the US, municipal landfills are the third largest source of human-related methane emissions, contributing meaningfully to climate change.
In short, like other greenhouse gas reduction strategies, minimizing food waste is good for our environment, saves money and promotes equity.