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Reduce food waste and eat what you’ve got!
Dear Reader,
So, we agree that food waste, which contributes about 10% to global greenhouse gas emissions, is a bad thing, yes? Combatting it, as climate solutions go (and you’ll pardon the pun), is fairly low-hanging fruit. Indeed, many countries are already taking large strides in addressing food waste, including Korea: Bluedot contributor Chaezu Lee tells us that the country has become a world leader in food waste reduction by placing automatic food waste bins, also known as Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) bins, in close to 170 municipalities. Each time consumers use an RFID bin, it informs them of the weight of what they’ve discarded and the amount they’ve been charged (which varies by weight), which increases their awareness of how much food waste they’re generating and encourages them to reduce it. By 2020, Lee writes, “the percentage of food waste kept out of landfills had risen to 97.6.”
Milan has been able to cut its food waste by 90%, in part by improving the logistics for getting unwanted food to charities that need it.
There’s plenty that all of us can do in our own homes to reduce food waste, including cooking in ways that use up ingredients that might otherwise be thrown away. Here are some tips and recipes to serve up this holiday season, including Roasted carrots with Carrot-Top Chimichurri, Two Roast Chickens (offering endless leftover possibilities!), leek recipes that use up the whole vegetable, Vegetable Roast with Tahini Yogurt Sauce (for all those veggie odds and ends from your fridge!), and Mushroom Sisig (for those who might not have a spare pig face lying around).
Conservatively,
Dot
Write down what is in your fridge before you go grocery shopping and plan your meals around what you already have to avoid food waste.
For more Bluedot Climate Quick Tips, click here.
