![]() If California succeeds, it could reduce emissions by an amount equivalent to taking 3 million cars off the road, according to CalRecycle, the state agency that handles waste. Like California, several American states are trying to tackle one piece of the problem with mandatory composting measures. ReFED estimates that food waste emissions, from farm to fork to landfill, are equivalent to that of 72 coal-burning power plants. food supply goes uneaten, according to the Environmental Protection Agency. Seventy percent of discarded restaurant food in the United States comes from food that’s paid for, but uneaten, according to ReFED, a nonprofit focused on reducing food waste. Sometimes it’s a refrigeration issue (milk spoils in a blackout) or stringent supermarket standards (no gnarly carrots) or poor human planning (forgotten salad greens that turn to slime in the fridge) or giant portions at restaurants. The problem of food waste isn’t just one problem, but many. ![]() Today, 31% of food that is grown, shipped or sold is wasted. For centuries, people used everything they could: the stalk of a banana tree, vegetable peels, a carrot that grew twisted underground. Throwing away crops that have been planted, watered, harvested, packaged and shipped is a relatively new problem in human history. “All these are going to the trash?” she asked. Just as Vang was leaving the store that day, a store manager was stuffing garbage bags with gallon bottles of milk. Twenty-three percent of children in the county don’t always have enough food. In addition, every city and county must reduce the organic waste that goes into landfills by 75% by 2025, and compost it instead.įresno County, where Vang works, is home to dairy farms and almond groves, and has one of the highest rates of hunger in California. Grocery stores are required to donate to groups like Vang’s “the maximum amount of edible food that would otherwise be disposed,” or soon face fines. Last year, China’s top leader, Xi Jinping, began a “clean plate” campaign, calling for an end to the “shocking and distressing” squandering of food, even cracking down on video bloggers who eat excessive amounts of food on camera.Īll these different efforts point to a disconnect in the modern global food system: A lot of food is produced but not eaten, even as people go hungry.Ĭalifornia’s law is the most ambitious in the United States. In Asia, Europe and the United States, several new mobile apps offer discounts on restaurant food that’s about to be thrown out. A Kenyan entrepreneur has built solar-powered refrigerators to help farmers store produce longer. In the United States, one startup makes it easier for people to buy misshapen produce that grocery stores don’t want, and another has developed an invisible, plant-based coating to make fruits last longer. ![]() According to estimates from the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, that is enough food to feed more than 1 billion people.Īmid the growing urgency to slow global warming, governments and entrepreneurs are coming up with different ways to waste less food. Worldwide, food waste accounts for 8% to 10% of global greenhouse gas emissions, at least double that of emissions from aviation. ![]() In the United States, the single largest volume of material sent to landfills and incinerators comes from food waste. So much goes to waste,” whispered Vang, who works with a local charity, Fresno Metro Ministry, to give food to people in need. Within minutes, she had persuaded the staff members to give her several crates of milk marked “best by” the next day, as well as buttermilk and boxes of Brussels sprouts, kale, cilantro, cut melons and corn. Laid out for her was a shopping cart of about-to-expire hamburger buns and cookies. ![]() On a bright Monday morning recently, she pulled up behind a supermarket in Fresno, California, hopped off her truck and set out to rescue as much food as she could under the state’s new law - helping store managers comply with rules that many were still unaware of. Which is where Vue Vang, wrangler of excess, comes in. ![]()
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