Did you know that about 40% of food in America is thrown out?
That brings us to our sixth and final R: Rot/Compost.
We all have those science experiments in the back of our fridges, but when food is wasted, so is the land, water and energy used to produce it. Some of that happens as part of the food chain, grower to grocer, and part at restaurants, but a large part happens in our own kitchens.
What can we do to reduce waste?
First, pay attention to what types of food are most often tossed in the trash at your house. Is it leftovers gone bad? Food trimmed off during meal prep? Large super-sized containers of food that you never get around to finishing? Make a plan and take action!
*Fridge–Go through on a regular basis and use what you have instead of buying more.
*Avoid buying more food than you can easily consume in a week. Shop like Europeans, buying only the fresh foods needed for a few days at a time. That giant box of strawberries looks great and seems like a good buy, but if they mold before you can finish them, we are wasting perfectly good food and everything it took to produce it!
*Shopping/Planning is everything!
- Know what you’ll immediately freeze and what recipes you’ll use for the rest.
- Store properly to prolong shelf life; try new recipes to use up all the dibs and dabs.
- Look on-line by typing “leftover food recipes”.
- I especially like lovefoodhatewaste.com for how to store a variety of foods and recipes to use up almost anything!
*Finally, Compost
- Compost veggie scraps and leftovers rather than tossing in the trash, so it is turned into productive soil again.
- Compost vegetable matter (no meat/dairy) in your own yard or sign up for a Yard Waste/Compost bin from Waste Management. Check out https://www.wmnorthwest.com/spokane/service.html
- The advantage of the yard waste bin is that you can add all food scraps, including meat and dairy, shredded paper, greasy pizza boxes, paper napkins, etc.
- By using the green compostable bags (no plastic bags!), it is easy to contain the food waste and transfer it simply to the yard waste bin.(
- For more info on home composting, check the master composter group at: https://www.spokanecounty.org/4744/Master-ComposterRecycler-Program
Terra hopes that you will choose to take an active part in finding creative ways to implement the 6 Rs. It’s great to be part of the solution.
If you have additional ideas, comment on our Blog, and share them with us. That’s what “Dear Terra” is all about!