We eat local because it is more sustainable, but there is another side of food sustainability: food waste. According to Sustainable America, an environmental non-profit dedicated to make our country’s fuel and food system more resilient, we waste 40% of our food. An average American throws away 1.5 pounds of food daily! There are many things you can do with this waste, instead (for example, see this list of 10 things you can do with a banana peel). Sustainable America has partnered with Grind2Energy to capture food waste and process it to generate biogas for energy and fertilizers. You can learn more during the festival as Sustainable America will be holding a food waste discussion and a demonstration with their partner, Grind2Energy.
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Sustainable America’s aims are to:
· reduce oil consumption by 50%,
· decrease food waste by 50%, and
· increase food availability by 50% over the next two decades.
Their efforts on the food side have been multi-pronged, from encouraging sustainable urban farming to reducing and redistributing edible food waste to diverting unavoidable food waste for compost and energy. If you don’t already know, Boston Local Food Festival, happening on September 14th, is a zero-waste event, which means that over 90% of the festival’s waste is composted, recycled, or reused. Be sure to do your part when you go to the festival!
Even the oil consumption aim has a lot to do with food – especially with eating locally. If your watermelon comes from Mexico, that fruit has traveled about 1800 miles to get to your kitchen! A lot of fuel is used to transport these products, and some of them rot before making it to the destination, which reduces food availability and increasing food waste. Focusing on using local products can really help with all these aspects. So find out more at the festival about what products are locally available, how to grow your own food, or attend the food waste discussion, or workshops about composting.
This post was brought to you by Fiona Chandra of Gourmet Pigs. Check her out!
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