“There is no such thing as ‘away’. When we throw anything away it must go somewhere.”
—Annie Leonard
Avoiding food waste is one of the best things we can do for the environment! “A third of the food raised or prepared does not make it from farm or factory to fork. Producing uneaten food squanders a whole host of resources—seeds, water, energy, land, fertilizer, hours of labor, financial capital—and generates greenhouse gases at every stage.”
Project Drawdown ranks reduced food waste as the third most effective action to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. You can avoid food waste by better planning (don’t buy or prepare too much food) and by proper storage. Better education can also help, for example, many people don’t know that you can eat beet greens – and that they are very healthy for you – and throw them out.
When food waste degrades in a landfill it produces methane, a greenhouse gas that is 86 times more powerful than CO2 in a 20 year timeframe.
Stale bread can be toasted or used for croutons or bread crumbs. Inedible kitchen scraps such as carrot greens or banana peels should not go into a landfill. They can be used for animal feed or compost.
