Friends,
More Tips For Your 30 Day Plastic Free Challenge and Moving Towards Zero Waste
Hope the challenge has been going well and you are beginning to get into the swing of living plastic free.
This week I thought we would look at a few more plastic free tips and then delve into food waste.
Plastic free tips:
1. Household cleaning products. Ever really count how many different household cleaners we have? It’s amazing that there are cleaners for your sink, floor, counters, different ones for inside and outside the fridge and oven, scrubbing agents, cleaners for windows, mirrors, wood surfaces, the list goes on and on. Here’s a really inexpensive cleaner that works, is non toxic and gets the job done and eliminates all those plastic bottles and containers: Vinegar and water, 50 /50 ratio of white vinegar to water. Put it into one of your old spray bottles and make sure to clearly mark it. It can be used on everything except stone counter tops.
2. Use baking soda as a scrubbing agent for sinks, tubs, toilets, even pots. Baking soda like vinegar and water is inexpensive, non toxic and works. It generally comes in a paper box which is then recyclable.
Food Waste
About 40% of food produced in the United States winds up as trash that goes to our landfills or is incinerated. That’s a lot of food and a tremendous amount of resources that are wasted to produce this food. In other words, resources like water, fertilizers, fossil fuels used for machinery and transportation, refrigeration, packaging, etc. required to produce food that ends up in our landfills are squandered along with the food. Even more resources are used for raising animals for meat and animal products, which take more water, land, and crops grown to feed the animals.
Think about wasting 40% of your groceries. Think about not only the resources wasted, the greenhouse gases emitted, but the money wasted. It is estimated that on average we spend about $2500 on food that is trashed.
Where does all this waste come from? It starts on the farms, where some of the food grown is never harvested or sent to market because it is too big, too small, not the right shape, color, or has some marring .
At the marketplace. Grocers like their displays to look abundant, and so pile up the produce, and generally buy too much which goes to waste. The philosophy is that it is better to have too much than to run out. Consumers in general will not buy the last few items in a display as they think there is something wrong with it.
Food that is near expiration date is usually thrown out. Have you ever seen the dumpsters at supermarkets filled with perfectly edible food because it is near expiration date.
At home. We all waste food. You know the moldy thing in the back of the fridge, the squishy fruit, the greens that we intended to eat but never did, the leftovers we just didn’t feel like eating again.
Restaurants are notorious for wasting food as are many diners. Huge portions that we can’t finish get trashed. Food that is cooked but never bought. Bread that is a day old,
How to cut down on this waste.
1. Buy ugly produce. There are several companies that deliver to your door food that is perfectly good to eat, but may fall into that too large or too small or slightly scarred category. Hungry Harvest and Imperfect Foods both deliver to this area.
2. Join a CSA. Community Supported Agriculture. This is where you buy directly from the farmer, which supports local food production. It cuts down on the transportation of food from across the country, is fresher, in season, usually not packaged in plastic, and guarantees the farmer that his/her food gets to the consumer.
3. Buy at farmers markets. Again, supporting local farmers,
4. Buy what you need. Look at what’s in your fridge and pantry before you go shopping and please make sure you are not hungry when you go food shopping. Meal plan so you buy what you need and only what you need.
5. Buy from bulk section of grocery stores, or from shops that sell in bulk. This way you buy the amount you need.
6. Use your senses instead of relying on confusing sell by, best buy, dates on items. Sell by and best buy dates have nothing to do with whether the food is edible and safe to eat. Best by and sell by dates are used for marketing purposes. If it smells good, and tastes good, it is good to eat.
7. Take a container with you when you go to restaurants. Those leftovers can be another meal for you instead of filling trash can.
8. Speaking of leftovers. When cooking at home and you have leftovers, why not freeze them. It is a great way to save the food, and to have a quick meal or two on hand. Freezers are a zero wasters friend.
9. Food donations. Ask the manager where you shop if they donate the food close to expiration or day old baked goods etc to food banks or shelters. If they don’t, ask if they will. There are many organizations that are happy to pick up the food and bring them to food banks and shelters.
10. Instead of throwing out the carrot and onion peels and other parts of veggies that you chop, throw them into a container kept in the freezer. When you have enough, use these to make you own vegetable broth.
Hope you find these tips helpful. Next week we will be looking at more ways to reduce our waste , including our plastic consumption.
Have a great week and if these tips are helpful, pass them along to a friend.
Helene
