Of course, you say!  Well, it depends on what you buy.   If you end up buying in bulk, then end up throwing expired food away, then that isn’t green.  When you buy in bulk, make sure you will be able to use it before the expiration date.  This may be easy to figure out; buy the foods you always eat, or maybe just buy the staples for cooking each night.  Costco and Sam’s Club are examples of places you can bulk shop.  And I love these stores because you can find almost anything you want in a larger quantity.

When to not buy in bulk.  Well, as the example of food above is one example.  But another one is a couple of products that my husband bought in bulk, which we will have FOREVER.  He had the right idea when buying in bulk it tends to save you money.   First, Ben bought business envelopes.  It’s good these things don’t expire.  But he bought so many envelopes that we will be able to pass them down to our kids when they are adults.  Second, Ben bought 20 army green T-shirts.  He will be able to have a green T-shirt for every year for the next 20 years.   These things are boxed up and in storage.  To me, these things didn’t need to be purchased in mass quantity.

Do you have any problems buying in bulk?  Any stories you’d like to share?  I’d love to hear them.  If you have any ideas on how to buy in bulk without wasting, please write me a comment below!  Thanks for visiting!

Now is the time of the year where you can get a whiff of the sugar beet plant in Moorhead.  If you aren’t familiar with it, it’s not a horrible smell but it’s something that you recognize.   There are six sites across North Dakota and Minnesota that processes sugar beets into something we enjoy: sugar.  American Crystal Sugar Company has a growing understanding that we need to protect our environment.  In 2008 they created a new process to take the tailings from sugar beets (waste product) and turn it into methane.

The University of Florida have been researching a new process of getting rid of sugar beet waste and turning it into something useful and contacted American Crystal to test this process.   The project received $1 million from the Xcel Energy Renewable Energy Development Fund. This process uses microorganisms to eat the beet tailings and will in turn produce methane which can be turned into electricity.

Early computations provided results as large as 125 billion British Thermal Units (BTUs) could be produced annually from tailings at the East Grand Forks site. And this is only one of the 6 sites.   Since I don’t understand what a BTU is here is a general definition: the term “BTU” is used to describe the heat value (energy content) of fuels, and also to describe the power of heating and cooling systems.

The benefits to using this new method is not only reducing the disposal costs associated with beet tailings, but also to create a usable byproduct from it.  This is also energy that is produced in America and it’s renewable.  Last, but not least, the environment will win because the carbon footprint of our factory could be reduced. I really enjoy reading about the new technology being created to reduce waste but to also fuel America.  I believe we should do whatever we can to reduce the amount of waste that is going into the landfill.  Please leave your thoughts in the comment section below.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=SnCpDroX4lM

I wanted to give you all an update on our new NatureMill composter and that it is working out well.  For those who have not been reading our blog, we had a Naturemill composter that we kept out in our garage.  Ashley, my wife, mostly took care of our first composter, but since we started Guy Goes Green, the amount of food in the garbage has decreased and the amount that needs to go into the composter has increased.  A new composter was in order.

We had originally thought that composting food indoors would be a stinky matter, so we decided to keep our first in the garage.  With the second Naturemill, after I ‘got on board’ with the green lifestyle, I was ok with keeping one in the basement to see how it went.  So far, it has gone really well.

There have been two situations that were slightly annoying, but temporary.  First, one day I came home and the basement smelled ripe with old food.  This was a week or two after we first started running the machine, but I think this was our inexperience with the device indoors rather than a problem with the machine.  We added a handful of brown leaves to the chamber and the next day it cleared right up. 

Also, we noticed that the device’s churning became rather loud when it was getting full.  It even woke me up a few times.  Now, we are in the midst of transferring the compost from the chamber and the noise has been reduced.  I suspect that this will go down after all the gear willeys and knob things get settled, but we will see.

Overall the benefit has far outweighed the negatives and we have been very happy with our NatureMill composter.  Stay tuned for some pictures of our newly created dirt! If you happen to own one or have any questions about them, feel free to add them to the comment area below.

Our new Nature Mill

Congratulations Ben and Ashley!  We have reduced the amount of garbage put out on the boulevard dramatically which is great for the environment.   Unfortunately, we have run out of room in our NatureMill composter because of all of the additional food waste we have been saving since we started Guy Goes Green.  So….. We got another one!

Now we have added a NatureMill Pro XE Compost Bin in our family.  Ok, so it might be going a bit far saying that it is a part of our family, but our current composter is something that we utilize every day and I suspect this one will continually used as well, if not more.  There is a difference on how we will use this composter in comparison to the other.  Currently, our other NatureMill composter is kept in the garage and I think we are going to try and keep this one inside so we do not have to run outside as much.

I have to say that the NatureMill has been a really great product for us.  Since we live in a very cold climate (Fargo, ND), traditional composters are not a very good option and the NatureMill composter can be ran inside or outside(even in our cold climate)… as long as you have a plug-in.  We already like the one we have and have been happy with the product and the company.

I am happy we have our new NatureMill composter and might occasionally give you guys a few updates on how it is working, but will definitely give you a full review on how our new Pro XE Compost Bin is working at some point in the future.  If you have a NatureMill or have any questions about it, let me know in the comment area below.

The week has ended and I think I have made some progress with this week’s challenge of reducing food waste.  For those just joining us, my wife Ashley assigns me a green task to research and accomplish every week and this week’s task was regarding food waste.  Not only have we made some changes around the house, I learned a bit about Freeganism (which fascinates me) and also about food waste and food recovery in my hometown of Fargo, ND.

I learned that 96 billion pounds of good food is thrown away every year in the United States.  Not only is this shocking to me, but it is also a shame.  Last I heard, there are several hungry people in the US and it would be really great if we could get this food into the hands of people who need it.   Some people even go the extra step to make this happen. 

Not only is this waste unfortunate because we have hungry people, but also because of the environmental effects.  Food waste emits methane which is much more destructive than Carbon Dioxide.  Food causes our landfills to fill up at a more rapid rate and there is long term costs associated with this also.  These are all good reasons to stop food from every getting into the garbage to begin with.

We can stop food from entering the garbage system by either composting or donating to local food banks.  If you work at a place that throws away good food, why not ask if you can set up a food rescue process to get that food into the right hands.  Although I am not positive it really happens, I have been reading stories about grocery stores throwing bleach on food in the dumpster or putting locks on so people cannot use this food.  Might it be just as easy to give it to the local food banks if they pick it up?

I have contacted both the city and Lutheran Social Services of North Dakota/Great Plains Food Bank to learn about food waste and recovery in my area.  I have found that our landfill is fairly progressive as far as landfills go.  I have also learned that over 50 restaurants, stores and bakeries participate in a food recovery program.  I am impressed with our programs and look forward to a potential tour of the LSSND food recovery headquarters.

In our house, we have cleared out all bad food from the freezer and composting what we can in our Nature Mill composter.  We are keeping a list of items close to expiration on the fridge (I am keeping the list on a backside of junk mail) and working to use all items.  We will continue to plan some of our meals throughout the week so we can better shop.  I have tracked the food I have thrown away this week and it has been very minimal.  A few pieces of fruit peelings (by mistake) and some goose leg bones that cannot be composted.  That is it for food waste.  In summary, I think we have become more efficient in regards to keeping food and think our long term food waste will decrease as a result of this week’s work.

I hope you all have enjoyed reading my progress this week and please let me know if you have any tips of food waste or information about food recovery programs in your area.

Earlier this week, I indicated I was going to investigate food recovery in my local area and I was pleasantly surprised for the City of Fargo.  Although my knowledge on the subject is still fairly limited, I learned that my little ‘ol town of Fargo, ND has done pretty well in both recovering food that could be used for feeding those who need it, but also in regards to reducing the other issues associated with food in our landfills.  If my experience is any indicator to what you can find in your area, you can easily find out information about your city and how they are doing.

The first thing that impressed me is the speed in which these local officials and organizations responded.  I send a few inquiry emails late Wednesday night and received much of the information I was looking for on Thursday.  The information I found can be broken up into two parts, Food Recovery and Waste Management.

Waste Management

The City of Fargo Sold Waste Utility Manager, Terry Ludlun, contacted me directly by phone to let me know about the things they are doing to best serve the city and people.  I completely understand that there is ALWAYS a way to do things better and Terry somewhat indicated that our waste process is continually a work in process and research will continue to find better ways to take care of the trash.   But for the time being, I think we are doing fairly well.

Methane does emit from our landfill, but Ludlun informed me that the City of Fargo is capturing this and selling it!  Methane is a horrible gas for the environment and if we can capture and use this gas… great!  To date, the city has generated over 11 Million KW Hours from the methane generated at our landfill.  This number can be tracked real time here and the methane process is outlined here.  Not only does the city capture and use this energy, the City of Fargo is also one of only one of eight municipalities on the Chicago Climate Exchange.  The city list is close to a ‘who’s who in hippie land’…. and Fargo.  Berkely, Portland, Fargo.  It is pretty awesome in my book.

Even though we capture and sell methane gas, Ludlun also discussed food waste and why it is in the landfill to begin with.  Fargo does have a composting program for leaves and clippings during the warm months, but he gave a few reasons outside of selling methane why we do not have a permanent food composting program:

1.  Apparently, large scale composting can be difficult in climates such as ours.  Now, I do not know the science behind this, but I do know that it does get very very very very cold in Fargo, ND.  If you have ever seen the movie Fargo, you caught a glimpse of just how cold it can get.  There are several stereotypes that I think are overblown in that movie, but the frigid cold is not one.  I drive my car onto frozen lakes and fish; that is how cold it gets.  Anyhow, it certainly would make sense that this might cause difficulties for food composting year round and obviously there is no yard clippings in the winter months.
2. Ludlun also indicated that other areas in the county’s middle region have experienced a perception problem when food is introduced into lawn/leaf compost.  Namely, compost usage goes down when people find things like bones in the received compost.  Creating compost supposes that there will be a demand for that compost and if usage goes down, then there is a real problem.

These were some reasons why we are not currently composting food in the City of Fargo, but I know that they are continuing to work on better solutions for us.  I know this because they have recently changed our garbage program in a manner that will likely increase recycling dramatically and make us even greener. 

Food Recovery

Although it is great to see that my community is taking steps to appropriately use food waste, another important (probably more so) part of this is getting good food out of the garbage and into the hands of those who can use it.  With a good number of families living in poverty, it should be imperative for us as a society to accomplish this.  I thought a good place to look for how this works locally was to contact the Salvation Army.  They, in turn, directed me to Lutheran Social Services of North Dakota.  Once again, I was contacted very quickly by the folks at LSSND.

The LSSND representative invited Ashley and I to take a tour of the statewide food recovery and distribution center, which is absolutely great.  As soon as I can connect with them outside of email, I am going to try and set up a time where we can go see where the magic happens.  Possibly, I will have another post with pictures to show my adventure.

They also indicated in the email that last year they recovered 6 million pounds of food valued at more than $8.36 million dollars.  In a state where our population is about 650k, that is not chump change.  Of particular interest to me are the perishable food programs.  I was informed that they work with over 50 restaurants, grocery stores, hospitals, colleges, and bakeries to recover surplus product.  That is absolutely great.  Since starting this week’s challenge, I have heard rumors of various organizations locking dumpsters or intentionally throwing bleach on perfectly good food.  I am not privy to if this actually happens, but if so… what a shame.   We should be doing our best to get these food products to those that need it.  Not only does it benefit the hungry, which is most important, it also is environmentally responsible.  Less food in the landfills means less space taken and less methane gas pumped into the air.  A big hug goes out to the folks at LSSND and there are many in our state that appreciates what you do. 

OK, I have rambled on enough and think I might have become a little passionate about this subject.  It really is a shame that perfectly good food goes in the garbage when it could either be given to people who need it or composted.  This week, I learned that my city is doing fairly well in the food recovery and waste management department.  I think there is always room for improvement but it is nice to know that the folks in my area are taking active steps to ensure a better community.   If this is something that interests you, I would suggest reaching out in your community to see what they are doing and possibly you will find a great volunteer opportunity.  Please let me know about any great green programs from your area in the comments section below.

Photo taken from www.weburbanist.com

I was watching TV one night, and an episode of “Secret Lives of Women” was on titled Extreme Diets.  This show spotlighted a movement called Freeganism.  I have never heard of it before that show.  Somewhat of a new movement, it started in the mid 1990’s.  The basic idea behind Freeganism is to live with little or no involvement in conventional economy and minimal consumption of resources.   I was very impressed to see an average woman digging through garbage off the city streets to find what she will eat that night.  I was surprised how much good food there was; non-expired, day old bread, and everything was wrapped and fresh.

This show compelled me to find out more about what Freeganism is and what it means.  It involves dumpster diving, foraging, gardening, sharing and squatting.   Squatting is the same sort of idea as dumpster diving, but instead of food not being used its buildings.  The squatters inhibit these vacant buildings since they consider them underused resources.   

Another aspect of Freeganism is belief that you should work less.   Working provides you with money and also the desire to accumulate material things.  Freeganism involves leading a simplistic life, and that you should spend your time with your family or volunteering.   I think this is very noble.  I do, however, really enjoy working and don’t see myself cutting my hours, but I like the idea of living minimaly.  Do we really need a bigger house when we only use a portion of it?  Do we really need that brand new cell phone when our current one still works?  Do we need brand new furniture when it’ll just get dirtied by our pets?  People may call me cheap, but I call myself thrifty. 

A good example of how much of a problem waste is, take a look at New York City.   They had to close down the largest landfill in the world (Fresh Kills) because of air pollution.  Yet today New York City recycles no more than 13 percent of its waste stream.  Sadly, the landfill developers are trying to rid the recycling markets because they get paid more for collecting solid waste than selling recyclables.  This information may be a few years old, but this is a big problem.   If I ever travel to New York, I would love to take a trash tour of New York to see firsthand how much good food goes to waste.

It is obvious that food waste has hazardous consequences.  Landfills filled with decaying waste releases methane into the atmosphere that and is eight times stronger greenhouse gas than carbon dioxide.  The only solution is to plan our grocery shopping to meet our actual needs and composting any waste.  I have to mention again how wonderful it is to have my NatureMill composter we use in the winter.  It will give us great soil for spring planting.  If you have any other facts or information you would like to share about being a Freegan or tips of reducing our consumption, please comment below.

We are a bit over half way done with this week’s green task of reducing food waste.  The biggest thing I realized is how little I can throw away if I just am a little bit more conscientious about what gets tossed in the garbage.  So far, this week I have learned quite a bit about food waste and also am in the process of taking steps that will help us reduce waste in the future.  I feel that I am on my way to becoming a real green guy.

As I previously posted, American’s throw away 96 Billion pounds of good food every year.  This is enough to feed all of this country’s hungry children several times over.  I might be wrong, but I do not think the USA has a monopoly on waste.  I suspect that much of the western world acts in a similar manner, but surely would be interested in hearing about any green programs in your country. 

I have started to go through some our cupboards and have found a few cans of ‘expired’ food that I will need to get rid of.  Although I am new to going green, I am not new to being frugal.  When I used to find a deal, I would buy in bulk.  Now that I am eating 100% healthier, these products no longer pass through my lips.  There is too much junk in much of the canned/bagged food.  This will all be eaten, composted or donated and I hope this exodus of junk food will be the last.  

I have been finding some information about Food Waste Recovery, but I am still not quite sure how this works in my hometown of Fargo, ND.   I know that there are food drives and several opportunities to give food to the shelters, but I wonder if there are any programs set up to recover this wasted food.  I think I will look into that!

I guess a big part of this task is to not let it get to the point where I need to get rid of food.  Ideally, we will buy or grow what we need, eat in a manner that is not wasteful and compost what is left.  I guess the goal is to have zero waste.  I realized that as far as food product goes, we have only thrown away 1 orange peel and 2 banana peels this week.  I am going to change this though and the only reason I threw these items is because I was at work and did not think about it.  I hope Ashley cuts me some slack on that… I am just a guy.  J  We have taken some junk mail scraps, hung it on the fridge and made a list of items that are close to expiring.

All other food either ended up in our bellies, in one of our critter’s belly or in the compost.  During the summer, we bring our compost to the city compost.  During the winter, we run our Nature Mill composter.  Overall, it is turning out to be a very productive week and it feels nice to know that we were already fairly good at not wasting food.

I hate wasting money.  Who doesn’t?  If you could save some money, wouldn’t you?  If you think of how much money you waste throwing away food, you’d be surprised.  Half of an avocado, $0.60; a half dozen eggs, $0.60; half a carton of Half and Half, $0.75… and that is in Fargo, ND.  This doesn’t include fresh produce that can be very expensive in the winter months.  Especially now that Ben and I are eating healthier, we need to make sure we are eating all of our food, and throwing away none.

Ben and I have not been horrible at wasting food, but to me, even wasting a potato annoys me.  I think that if I would have planned meals better we wouldn’t have had this issue.  This week is the end of us wasting food.  We have found several ways to prevent this from happening.  Mrs. Green from MyZeroWaste.com says that by keeping foods on the top shelf that need to be used first before anything new.  This is a great tip I would have never thought about.  This may require a little reorganizing of our fridge, but will likely do.  Another tip which we will implement is putting a dry erase board on our fridge that will help us see what we have to use up without digging.  Then just erase when it’s gone.  This challenge for Ben will also allow him to be more creative when it comes to preparing meals.

Another way to prevent this food waste from going into the garbage and also save money is to compost it.  Yes, you still waste food, but you make up the money in the nutrient rich soil you make from it.  This will give you better results from your organic gardening.  In North Dakota you can’t compost outdoors in the winter because the temperature plummets below freezing for about 4 months.  We invested in a NatureMill Composter that we put into our garage to keep the compost brewing throughout winter.  It runs on approximately $0.50 worth of electricity per month, doesn’t take up much space, made from recycled materials and you can get a batch of compost ready for the garden in 2 weeks instead of 3 months.  Did I also mention it’s made in the USA?  Everyone should purchase one of these.

Besides saving tons of money, we will also reduce our waste output for the city and reduce the amount of methane gas that is released into the atmosphere.  Reducing food waste has a snowball effect on our carbon footprint.  We’ll save money, create more meals and help the environment.  Also, since we don’t put out the garbage unless the bin is full, many times weeks between, the garbage man won’t idle his engine while unloading our garbage.  With the great soil we’ll get from food scraps we’ll have a better garden next year.  If you have any other suggestions on how to eliminate food waste, please comment below.