Millions of adults and children around the country and here in New England suffer from a lack of access to affordable, nutritious food. What’s more, so much perfectly edible food gets dumped in landfills every day. The good news is that we can alleviate both of these problems at the same time.
Co-founders of Mei Mei Dumplings and Food Waste Feast, Mei and Irene are on a mission to pass along their professional knowledge for reducing food waste in the kitchen. Designing dishes that use up everything in the fridge and offering workshops on how to make your dollars go further by cooking smarter, the sister-duo is on the cutting edge of the food waste revolution.
It’s the most wonderful (and wasteful) time of the year! As retailers bombard your inbox this holiday season, we challenge you to think outside the box – literally. To help you out, we’ve crafted a list of our top Zero Waste gifts to give this year.
We have a food waste problem. Each year, the U.S. trashes about 125 to 160 billion pounds of food. And while several factors play into our increasing wastefulness, the good news is, we have readily available solutions at hand.
With organic waste recycling on the rise, many cities and towns are looking to invest in infrastructure that will repurpose our food waste and yard clippings. But which method should they invest in – industrial composting or anaerobic digestion?
The uptick in composting is a huge step forward in combatting our trash crisis. But we can’t do the hard work on our own. We need cities, towns, and states to invest in infrastructure that will make composting easy and affordable for everyone.
Cambridge partnered with a local composter in 2018 to start a curbside compost program. But as more residents signed-up, the volume of food scraps increased. Cambridge accommodated the growth by finding a new partner. It signed with Waste Management – a partnership that has put the City’s food scraps to waste.
Is the systemic idea of Zero Waste actually possible? Yes! But to do so, we need to stop looking at Zero Waste as just a lifestyle and start looking at it as a strategic concept for managing our waste – and tackling the trash crisis.
Rescuing and diverting more of Rhode Island’s food waste could help cut climate-damaging emissions while urgently addressing food insecurity within the state.
“New England’s waste system is broken,” says Kirstie Pecci, Director of CLF’s Zero Waste Project. “While we wait for much-needed reform, there are steps that each of us can take to make a big difference. For the health of our communities and our planet, achieving zero waste must be everyone’s goal.”
