by Brianna Crandall — December 8, 2014—This holiday season, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is encouraging people to save money and protect the environment by reducing the amount of wasted food that gets thrown away. In 2011 alone, Americans reportedly generated 36 million tons of food waste. Most of this went to landfills to decompose and produce methane—a powerful greenhouse gas over 20 times more potent than carbon dioxide, points out EPA.
One way for organizations, businesses, families, and individuals to get started on reducing their food waste is by joining EPA’s Food Recovery Challenge. Challenge participants save money, help communities, and protect the environment by purchasing less, donating extra food, and composting.
“Our country is blessed with abundant food resources, but too much of that is senselessly wasted,” said EPA Region 6 Regional Administrator Ron Curry. “By using only what we need, we can save more for those who don’t have enough and fight climate change at the same time.”
Various EPA regions recognized exemplary programs in the last two weeks, outlined below.
* The Western Lake Superior Sanitary District’s composting facility in Duluth, MN, turns food scraps and yard waste from homes and businesses into high-quality compost for plants. WLSSD processes nearly 8,000 tons of organic materials diverted from landfills each year. WLSSD works with nearly 200 businesses and institutions in the Duluth-Hermantown-Cloquet area to divert food through local feeding programs for the hungry, and to the composting facility. WLSSD also operates food scrap collection sites for area residents and small businesses. Through its composting program, WLSSD produces nearly 2,500 cubic yards of bulk and bagged Garden Green Compost, which is sold directly to the public and to regional garden centers.
* Brown’s ShopRite store in West Philadelphia, PA, and Drexel University’s Culinary Arts and Food Science Program were honored for developing a new way to help the environment and feed hungry people. Drexel University Food Lab students majoring in culinary arts, culinary science and hospitality management regularly visit Brown’s ShopRite, collect the bruised but still usable fruits and vegetables that used to be thrown away in landfills, and experiment until they have turned the bounty into recipes that are nutritious and easy to prepare. The students than turn the recipes over to shelters and other emergency food providers, where staff use them to feed people in need.
* Also in Philadelphia, the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia (CHOP) and University City District (UCD) were recognized. CHOP has composted a total of 303 tons of food waste since February 2011. Composting is part of CHOP’s larger sustainability program, which reuses or recycles approximately 50 percent of its total waste. UCD, a partnership of institutions, small businesses and residents located in the University City section, promotes food recovery to various institutions and businesses in the community while connecting them with the resources to make food recovery possible and profitable. In addition to CHOP and Drexel, UCD has worked with Amtrak, Auntie Anne’s Pretzels, Delaware Valley Regional Planning Commission, Dunkin’ Donuts, Metropolitan Bakery, Au Bon Pain, Green Line Café, Four Worlds Bakery and many other area businesses. Additionally, more than 200 residents sustainably dispose of food scraps and other organic waste by bringing it to a local composting center.
* Six organizations in the EPA Dallas Region have participated in the Food Recovery Challenge for several years. The University of Texas at Austin; the University of Texas at Arlington; the Dallas Stars and American Airlines Center; Ortega National Parks Systems, Carlsbad, NM, Trading Post; and Ortega National Parks Systems, White Sands, NM, Trading Post combined to divert over 1.04 million pounds of food waste from landfills in 2013. In addition, 29 new members joined the challenge in 2013, including Sprouts grocery stores, the Kay Bailey Hutchison Dallas Convention Center, and Dillard University, LA.
