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.