in this video, we visit the sadler, brockway, and ernie davis dining halls, and interview students on this very subject. by diving into syracuse university’s policies on food waste and visiting the onondaga county resource recovery agency’s (ocrra) amboy compost site, we aim to educate students on the facilities and processes that help keep this school sustainable. we take an in-depth look into ocrra’s aerated static pile system, which separates the amboy site from other municipal composting sites. 

on a larger scale, food insecurity remains a pressing issue, but up to 40% of the food supply in the u.s. is wasted per year, contributing to 8% of greenhouse gas emissions. in d.c., the food recovery network is trying to fight both food insecurity and food waste.

in this mini-documentary, planet forward comcast sustainable storytelling fellow jelina liu provides a look into the extensive food recovery network in the united states’ capital.

with the help of technology and many volunteers, this network helps battle food waste, the climate crisis, and food insecurity, all at the same time.

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editor’s note: this short film was produced as part of the planet forward-comcast nbcuniversal sustainable storytelling fellowship.

the importance of waste management has been known since early humans realized living next to excrement was a recipe for disease. today’s waste systems are built on roughly the same principle as those of ancient civilizations: throw stuff out farther away.

in america’s waste systems it matters surprisingly little what the trash itself is; bubble wrap and apple cores are treated as one and the same. workers in offices, parents in homes, and students in dormitories all apply the “throw stuff out farther away” principle – and it’s contributing to climate change.

carbon emissions contributing to earth’s greenhouse come from numerous sources, among which landfills are no minor player. landfills release 17% of the u.s.’s methane, a greenhouse gas with 28-36x the global warming potential of carbon dioxide, according to the environmental protection agency [1]. though methane stays in the atmosphere for a shorter timespan than carbon dioxide, it absorbs more energy (holds more heat) in those years.

our discarded leftovers generate those earth-warming gases.

“rotting food in landfills releases methane,” explains university of chicago campus composting co-leader chloe brettmann. the reason has to do with oxygen: the soil microorganisms that break down food need oxygen to survive, and landfills are packed too tightly for sufficient air flow. without microorganisms, food decays much slower – releasing methane and carbon dioxide.

the solution? give waste room to breathe.

composting does just that. biodegradable waste, like food, paper products, and even dog hair can all be combined and routinely turned through to oxygenate. in as soon as a few weeks the waste bears distant resemblance to its original form. in place of the banana peels and paper napkins is fertile, nutrient-rich soil.

conceptually, composting is simple. in practice, it’s an extra step that few americans take.

the food and agriculture organization estimates that 30% of americans’ food gets thrown out, 96% of which ends up in landfills – amounting to 3.3 billion tons of greenhouse gases released to the atmosphere each year [2][3][4]. “when you compost, you dramatically reduce the greenhouse gas emissions caused by food breaking down,” says brettman. 

for many americans, the time and resources needed to maintain a backyard compost bin makes it an unrealistic ask. backyard composting is the smallest scale of operation, and the one that takes the most work. this is where local and regional composting companies come in: many offer a pick-up or drop-off service where individuals can fill up a few-gallon bin that gets exchanged regularly. but this still requires effort and money – work that you don’t do now for your trash and recycling.

to make a change of practice desirable, an environmental benefit is, unfortunately, rarely enough. ease is crucial – and chicago college campuses provide a case study into how the operation might work.

the university of chicago is set to implement a residential composting pilot program in an 800-student dormitory in march 2022. campus composting, a group within the university of chicago’s largest environmental club, initiated the pilot with $3,900 from the green fund, a campus program that awards $50,000 in annual grants for student-led sustainability research and projects [5].

for the first time in uchicago’s history, students will be able to bring their buckets, full of food, paper products, and other biodegradable waste, to a nearby drop-off location for chicago-based micro-compost hauler urban canopy to pick it up. in covid-times, when more students are eating meals in their dormitory rooms, composting provides a sustainable waste stream, helping to reduce individual and university carbon footprints.

since composting is not a widespread service, educational measures are being put in place regarding composting etiquette – namely, what can and can’t be composted. andre dang, campus composting’s other co-leader, notes “given that it’s an opt-in program, we are able to make sure everyone is following the rules of composting because we have educational seminars and materials.”

education about composting can help in more ways than just proper waste sorting; a 2016 study by waliczek and colleagues found that composting education bears a significant correlation with enhancing environmental attitudes more generally [6].

other chicago schools – including loyola university chicago, northwestern, and depaul – have been part of the composting scene for years. loyola began their commercial composting initiative in 2012 and has since turned composting into one of its standard waste streams (along with the usual landfill, recycling, and e-waste).

loyola’s director of sustainability aaron durnbaugh notes, “members of the community take ownership, and even pride, in diverting this material from the landfill.” to him, the top benefits of composting include “reducing materials going to the landfill, increasing recycling of organic waste into needed fertilizer and soil nutrients, and supporting a regional circular economy of nutrients and materials management.”

when waste management infrastructure is placed on an organization (in this case, a university), it becomes easier for individuals to change their behaviors. the goal with composting is, simply, to add another type of bin to the trash rooms at the end of dormitory hallways.

the environmental need for more sustainable waste management is vital. says brettman, “an enormous portion of the waste that you create individually is food waste…both on and off-campus composting programs could divert so much total waste output.”

that powerful idea is none other than the green bronx machine, but rest assured it is not your typical machine. the green bronx machine is powered by none other than students with a passion for gardening healthy greens, as well as educators who spark that passion in their students.

planted in the bronx

the green bronx machine’s most notable educator is also its founder: stephen ritz. ritz is a bronx native and can easily be identified by his exuberant energy both in and out of the classroom. teaching at schools with some of the worst dropout rates in the country, ritz has always been deeply committed to his students and has worked tirelessly to keep them engaged in school. 

nearly a decade ago, ritz had a lightbulb moment that would change the trajectory of his career and students’ lives forever. when his middle schoolers accidentally stumbled upon a box of flower bulbs in his classroom, they were fascinated by their discovery and were eager to learn how to plant.

pleasantly surprised by his students’ reaction, stephen realized that he could better engage his students by making gardening the center of the classroom experience. 

“i could teach children to read and write and do math if i put this magical garden in the middle of the classroom and built school around it,” ritz said.

in 2013, ritz became the first teacher in the u.s. to implement tower gardens in the classroom. 

sprouting local solutions

since the introduction of tower gardens, the green bronx machine has flourished into an educational and community-based organization that teaches students how to garden and consume healthier foods. under its model, students still learn core subjects like science and math, but gardening is put at the center of teaching so that students have a more engaging and hands-on learning experience. while unconventional, the green bronx machine education model has proven to be effective in training and empowering students.

“we’ve taken a formerly failing, slated-to-be-closed school that now outperforms city and statewide benchmarks in all areas,” ritz said.

notably, the green bronx machine has not only closed education gaps in the bronx but has also expanded to address local food insecurity as well. today, the organization runs classroom and community gardens all throughout the bronx, serving as a production hub for healthy greens around the bronx community. cory gamble, a former student of ritz’s and the green bronx machine’s farm technician, has witnessed how the green bronx machine fills an incredibly important food access gap in his community.

“that’s the main thing in the bronx: lack of food,” gamble said. “the bronx doesn’t really have food like that. it’s mostly junk food around here than anything else.”

ritz’s vision for the green bronx machine is rooted in community empowerment and self-sufficiency. instead of waiting for outsiders to fix the bronx’s food deserts, ritz is eager to make change from within, empowering the bronx’s youth to be farmers who change the trajectory of local food insecurity.

“we at green bronx machine are determined to be the light inside of our tunnel, instead of seeking light at the end of the tunnel,” ritz said.

rooted in resilience

when the covid-19 pandemic took the world by surprise, the green bronx machine was already prepared to address the exacerbated food crisis in the bronx.

“once the covid-19 crisis started, it was amazing that nothing fell off, and green bronx machine didn’t have to readjust,” said michaela, ritz’s daughter who had been helping the organization deliver meals to families during the pandemic.

according to michaela, the green bronx machine worked hard to “fill in the cracks that became even more glaringly apparent in society.” with schools shutting down and healthy meals becoming more difficult to access, the green bronx machine went above and beyond to ensure that their students were still learning and families were still eating. ritz and his team hosted frequent cooking classes, even delivering ingredients to students to make sure they could participate. they also transformed their national health and wellness center into a food pick-up station, in addition to hand-delivering more than 100,000 pounds of food to locals in their community.

“without green bronx machine, i don’t know if half of these kids would be eating due to covid,”  gamble said.

when schools started opening back up again in the bronx, the green bronx machine also resumed their classroom gardening projects in a socially distant manner. in this way, the green bronx machine improved students’ lives during the pandemic through three main avenues: an academic need for learning, a material need for nutritious food, and a social need for human connection.

harvesting a movement

the systemic issues of food insecurity and school dropout rates are not unique to the bronx, and so the green bronx machine strives to replicate these positive impacts in other communities that struggle with their same issues. with expansive success in the bronx education system, the green bronx machine has developed a curriculum model now implemented in over 500 classrooms around the u.s. and world. 

what makes the green bronx machine model so powerful, though, is that it isn’t just an education success story. it’s a societal success story. the green bronx machine’s journey to make the bronx a greener and healthier community shows that societal transformation is most effective and sustainable when it starts from within. instead of employing outside food delivery to feed the bronx, the green bronx machine placed the seeds in the hands of those with the most power to change the bronx for the better: the local youth. 

ultimately, food is the key ingredient that powers the green bronx machine model, bringing together students, educators, and community members alike because nutritious food is a universal necessity of life. food is what we all have in common, and so what the green bronx machine brings to the bronx can be brought to any community in need of healthy food.

according to ritz, “food is the language in which society reveals itself.” and in the bronx, the success of the green bronx machine reveals that youth and education are two of the most powerful channels to bring healthy food access to some of the country’s poorest communities.

a seed of an idea planted in the bronx, the green bronx machine model now has the potential to be harvested around the world. 

once you’re done with your banana, what happens to the peel if it sits in a plastic trash bag? the natural breakdown of food slows immensely when leftovers end up in a landfill or on the sidewalk. if you want to make a change that will help the planet, look no further than your own food scraps. 

“composting is essentially a renewal process. it is a verb and it’s a noun,” said najwa womack, a d.c. native who has been composting for the past seven years. “the action of composting is actually monitoring the decomposition process of organic materials, and what you come out with is a very nutrient-dense soil amendment.” 

womack runs sistained 8, an action step movement that increases awareness around environmental sustainability and teaches the community about composting. she admits that at first people may be wary of the smell, but they are almost always impressed with the end result. 

composting is an aerobic process, meaning it requires oxygen. in this process, organic material is heated and breaks down into nutrients which enrich soil and results in much lower carbon dioxide production, compared to the lengthier breakdown process in a trash bag. 

“you probably heard about methane when it comes to animal waste and pig manure, and too much of it can cause an issue. so that’s also the case with food waste going inside of plastic bags. it has been very harmful over time to the planet. it’s literally trapped methane gas that could be decomposing naturally,” womack said. 

in the u.s., the third-largest source of methane comes from landfills. this means every time food goes into the trash can, the release of methane increases, heating up the earth and furthering the climate crisis. 

“composting is an easy, fascinating, and natural way to recycle,” writes rhonda sherman, an extension solid waste specialist at north carolina state university, in a backyard composting publication. 

for those who don’t have outdoor access or prefer to be more hands-off, one method involves leftovers and a freezer. after cooking, throw any food scraps in a compostable bag (paper works too) or reusable container. organic materials like grass or house plant clippings, paper products, coffee grounds, tea bags, and more can be added. 

with this “freezer method,” there are no requirements for what or how many scraps get frozen. it all depends on what you have available. and that’s it, you’ve started composting! once the bag is full you will need to do a little research about your town. drop off your compost at a municipal facility or pay a small fee to have it picked up by a service. some farmers markets and universities also offer free composting programs to the public and handle the decomposition process at a dedicated facility. 

the other option is to be involved in the composting process from start to finish. start your pile on the ground or place your bin in a shaded area, so it stays moist. here you must have two main components — your browns and your greens. browns are dried leaves, newspapers, cardboard, twigs, etc. they absorb moisture, help keep your compost pile structured, and are sugar-rich carbon sources. greens are your leftover food discards like fruits, veggies, and even your coffee grounds. greens help provide moisture for microorganisms and are protein-rich nitrogen sources. you should aim for a browns to green ratio of about 70 to 30. note that it is best to avoid adding meat and or dairy products as they don’t decompose well in a traditional compost pile, and can attract bugs.

is it possible to compost meat and dairy? yes! “they can be placed in an in-ground digester, such as the green cone,” according to sherman from nc state. some municipal composting programs also may allow them. if you use the freezer method and have meat and dairy leftovers, check with your drop-off program for their specific guidelines.

as for the size of your compost pile, it should reach three to five feet in height and at least three feet in diameter. this is key to having the pile retain heat and be self-insulating, which decomposes the materials. alternate between layers of browns and greens or mix them very well and the breakdown process will happen naturally. to speed up the composting process, add water to keep it moist and turn the pile frequently. chopping your leftovers into smaller pieces doesn’t hurt either. 

to avoid having excess food overall, womack says the first step is awareness, and to study your own eating patterns. from there, one can shop smarter and label your food with dates to monitor your food consumption. even with a perfect harvest or shopping list, there inevitably will be leftover inedible parts — and that’s where the sustainable practice of composting comes in. the resulting nutrient-rich amendment regenerates soil, optimizes the taste of the crops, and can decrease pathogens. 

womack finds composting “very solution-based … you are a single ambassador and if we have enough people — more than enough — ambassadors doing that activity, we’ll start to see a lot more change.” 

composting is a quick change one can make at home that truly benefits the earth and improves soil health, with options to dedicate as much or as little time as you have. 

however, restaurants are putting climate change on the menu. industry leaders are transitioning their restaurant operations to be more sustainable and climate friendly. here are 5 ways they’re doing it.

renewable energy 

restaurants are converting their spaces into sustainable buildings. azurmendi, a three-michelin-star restaurant in spain and two-time sustainable restaurant award winner, uses solar panels for electricity and uses geothermal energy for indoor climate control. root down, a sustainably focused restaurant in denver, is run entirely on wind power. nomad an ultra-local restaurant in australia operates off of solar energy and is a solar panel host site for the community. 

the shift to renewable energy is not exclusive to high-end restaurants. mcdonald’s opened a new net zero energy restaurant, the first in their fleet of 36,525 locations, in july 2020 in orlando, florida. the new location is a first step in mcdonald’s sustainability goals, including reducing greenhouse gas emissions by 36% by 2030. 

sustainable sourcing 

the farm-to-table phenomenon that became popular in restaurants over the past few years has been crucial to kick-starting a wave of restaurant sustainability. local, farm-to-table produce emits less carbon, as there is less transportation necessary to deliver it. amber in hong kong, the sustainable restaurant award 2020 winner, specializes in ultra-local, hyper-seasonal selections on their menu. their menu is up to 50% plant-based and they’ve removed all dairy from their dishes.

blue hill, a new york based restaurant, was one of the first to prioritize ultra-local sourcing and foster relationships with the farmers they work with. by seasonally changing menus and sourcing produce and meat products from local, sustainably operated farms, restaurants can greatly reduce their carbon footprints.

recycling

we can all do our part by recycling. we all know the saying: “reduce, reuse, recycle.” restaurants are using recycled paper products, recycled water, and recycled furniture. relae in denmark, winner of the sustainable restaurant award 2019, recycles wherever possible. from reusing empty wine bottles to serve their in-house filtered water, to using recycled furniture and wearing sustainable-fabric aprons, relae works tirelessly to employ sustainability in all aspects of their operations.

founding farmers in washington, d.c., uses recycled materials in a similar way. from recycled paper-composite counter tops, to recycled paper menus and recycled wood furnishings, the restaurant group prioritizes sustainability in all nine of their locations.

circular economy and community involvement 

many restaurants engage in circular economies and community involvement, which helps their communities and involves locals in sustainability efforts. septime in paris sources all of their produce from french farmers, and works with those farmers to save seed varieties and plant species. mil, a restaurant nestled in the andes mountains of peru, fosters close relationships with local communities and the farmers they source from, ensuring that farmers receive 50% of harvest profits. woodberry kitchen, a baltimore restaurant, repurposes oyster shells and returns them to chesapeake bay to regenerate oyster beds. 

zero food print

zero food print is an organization that enables farmers to practice carbon farming. carbon farming is a method that restores soil biology, which then pulls carbon out of the atmosphere, reviving the soil and replenishing nutrients. zero food print restaurants contribute a few cents per meal to helping farmers implement carbon farming through grants from the organization’s restore programs. according to professor rattan lal at ohio state university, “a mere 2% increase in the carbon content of the planet’s soils could offset 100% of all greenhouse gas emissions going into the atmosphere.” 

as restaurants prioritize sustainability, they are supporting local farmers, reducing their impact on the environment, and making an impact on their guests. by continuing to put climate change on the menu, restaurants will be a key player in the fight against climate change. 

“initially, i reached out to katie mckenna in carleton’s dining service, bon appétit, like, i want to talk about reusable to-go containers and what they would look like in sayles café,” said farias, an environmental studies major who works both as a sustainability assistant in carleton’s sustainability office and with the food and environmental justice cohort in its center for community and civic engagement. “i’m still astounded by how far the program has come.”

farias has been involved in a number of sustainability and food projects on campus, including the swipe out hunger initiative, where students donate a meal swipe to benefit peers who experience food insecurity. as a member of the waste team in the sustainability office, reducing material waste in campus food services had long been one of his goals. he originally meant to run a pilot project in spring term 2020 with 100 students and 25 faculty and staff opting to use exclusively reusable containers in sayles café. then, the start of the covid-19 pandemic shut campus down, and plans were abandoned. but the carleton student association had already funded the purchase of 300 reusable clamshells, and there were 280 students still on campus. so farias and his team thought: why not try the project anyway? 

“a lot of students did not want to eat in the dining hall—they were scared,” said katie mckenna, the dining services manager with bon appétit. “they just wanted to take food out, and we were going through a lot of disposable clamshells every week. it was frightening, the number with only 280 students on campus.”

for the last week of spring term, a revised pilot program ran in sayles and one of carleton’s two dining halls. farias and sustainability program coordinator alex miller served as project managers, with mckenna running bon appétit’s end of the program. bon appétit student sustainability ambassadors karen chen ’21 and ella hein ’23 were brought on to represent a student perspective and market the project. chen took the lead on designing posters and a green2go exchange card.

on-campus students were each given a copy of the card, which they could trade out for an ozzi brand reusable clamshell at a meal. after eating, they were expected to rinse out their container and return it at their next meal, either for a card or another container. according to farias and mckenna, the program was informative and an overall success.

then the college decided to bring 1,500 students back to campus in september, and they realized that the time for a full-scale green2go program had come.

“when we were talking about this fall, my options were throwing all this money into one-use containers that were just going to fill the compost bins on campus, or trying to do this green2go rollout,” mckenna said. although compostable containers were already the default, they are still produced with disposable material and take a long time to biodegrade. 

“the other concern was there being a shortage,” farias added. “with so many other schools relying on these compostable containers, we wouldn’t have been able to supply any more of them. instead, we might have to turn to something like styrofoam, which in my opinion is my worst nightmare.”

so farias reached out to jesse cashman, the director of auxiliary services and client manager for carleton’s contract with bon appétit. cashman had dealt with the funding for the disposable containers during spring term; with about 2,100 meals per week at $0.26 per clamshell, they had been spending $546 every week. that would have gone up to 16,000 meals and $4,160 a week come fall term. comparatively, a green2go container that can be used upwards of 300 times is only $4.10—the equivalent cost of 16 disposable containers.

“when we looked at what the cost was to get the product in here, it was pretty easy to arrive at,” cashman said. “we’re going to return our cost here within 3-4 months of this operation, which is pretty astounding.” 

thanks to cashman’s advocacy, the college purchased 3,500 green2go containers in july, and 1,000 more in september, with money set aside for covid-19 expenses on campus. because it wasn’t just about sustainability; without a pandemic, carleton would never have needed this many to-go containers. it was about safety.

during new student week, all meals were packaged in disposable to-go containers. but starting on the first day of classes, with many students taking their food out in green2gos, bon appétit has been able to set up limited and distanced seating in the dining halls and cafés.

“because there are so few seats in the dining halls, because the occupancy limit is so low, having these green2gos really allows people to get out of the dining halls,” farias said. “i see them on carleton’s quad, the bald spot, i see them all around campus. it allows people to eat in a socially distant manner.” even as colder weather arrives and students eat outside less often, they can take their food back to their rooms rather than crowding the dining halls.

and so far, it’s working. mckenna was initially concerned about whether students would return the containers, given a poor track record for reusable programs in the past. “we tried it once before with the reusable cups,” she said. “students were taking soup in them and not washing them for days. they’d come back full of mold. they just didn’t care. we went through six thousand cups in the first three weeks of fall term, which is insane for a campus our size. they just weren’t returning them. but they’re returning these green2gos.”

hein had similar concerns at the end of spring term. she was worried that students wouldn’t understand how the program worked or would just hoard the containers in their room.

but being back on campus, hein has been pleasantly surprised. at the beginning of october, she conducted an inventory of the containers that showed the dining halls had the right number at meal times. sometimes, she said, she even feels like all of her friends have adjusted to the program more smoothly than she has.

she has a theory as to why. “i think everyone came in with an ability to adapt to all of the changes this fall,” she said. “if the green2go program had been the only thing that was changing, if it was a normal campus year, it might have gone worse. it’s a different system, but because there are so many new systems across campus, people were just aware that they had to adapt.”

mckenna summed it up. “in an odd way, i think covid-19 has helped this program with student awareness. i can talk about reducing waste all day long, but it really has to be something that the students buy into. they wanted to be able to eat out of the dining hall, and how could we do that successfully? the clamshells were the answer.”

now that bringing green2go containers back and forth from the dining halls has become the social norm, mckenna has high hopes for future sustainability projects. her ideas include reusable to-go silverware, small containers for sides at sayles, weitz, and schultze cafés, or a revamp of the reusable cup program. the rest of the team is right behind her. “i think this is a great example that with community participation, student participation, we can accomplish these sustainability efforts on campus,” cashman said. “so it just opens the door to make more improvements down the road in all of our other areas that we’re using disposables.”

there’s also the possibility for the green2go program to spread beyond the carleton bubble. some institutions, such as macalester college and bemidji state university, have their own reusable programs, and others are in the process of developing them for the covid-19 crisis. carleton’s unique success story can provide an example of how to do it well. farias is currently writing a case study about the project for the post landfill action network, a resource for colleges that are working to reduce their waste. chen has written about the program in the bon appétit magazine, bravo, and the two of them are also presenting to a cross-campus sustainability group of student environmental organization leaders. 

“i think we’re an example of an institution that is doing something right and is taking advantage of the special opportunity that the covid-19 situation has presented,” said chen. “our model could be used as an example for other institutions to follow in step, and that would be a really awesome way to expand our impact and promote sustainability outside of just this campus.”

meanwhile, the green2gos are getting an evaluation back on campus. in economics professor mark kanazawa’s environmental studies research methods class, one student research project is focused exclusively on the containers. karah haug ’21 and alle brown-law ’21 are conducting a survey of students, faculty, and staff about how the program has been going. they developed their questions, both about perceptions and usage of the green2gos, with help from miller and mckenna. in an instance of truly reciprocal research, they’ll report their findings back to them to be used in adjusting the program for terms to come. 

“i chose this project (and alle would echo this),” said haug, “because i am interested in waste habits on campus and i wanted to find out if the green2go program implementation has been successful. if it has and people have relatively positive responses to it, we will be one important step closer to reducing waste and the carbon footprint of the campus.”

from farias’ perspective, the program has indeed been successful. he’s on campus but off-board this term, so he hasn’t used a single green2go container himself, he said with a laugh. but he’s been asking his friends, and they’ve had positive reactions. and just looking around is enough to show why. 

“around campus during new student week, i would see trash cans piled high with all of the bon appétit to-go containers,” farias said. “i can’t imagine what that would look like every single day, for the rest of the term and maybe even the year. i think that was a helpful visual representation for me to think, oh, maybe i am doing some good here.”

—

as two 20-somethings watching our food bills rise, we thought little of the food waste produced. it was just one of the growing sources of money sapping lifestyle inflation we had. we were adding convenience foods, eating out, and generally doing what two middle-class americans do once they’re out of school and starting careers: spend! as our budget ballooned, so too did our carbon footprint and waste.

but what if we could rethink our relationship with food in a way that would cut waste and save money?

food and individual empowerment

many ideas we think about on planet forward are nuanced, distant concepts. we don’t personally have much direct control over them. but, there is something we all individually do that has a real effect on the environment, society, and even our own wealth. we eat, and sometimes not with great efficiency.

it’s been close to a decade since we started looking — bleary-eyed with student loan debt — at our finances and the consumerism that blew holes in our budget. we’ve been fortunate to turn the tide, and then some, through lots of small purchasing decisions along the way. 

while writing about financial independence as one of a duo of 35-year-old early retirees, i’ve spent copious amounts of time researching how to reduce our grocery expenses. reducing food waste became a central theme of our expert guide to saving money at the grocery store.

ultimately, we cut our monthly grocery expenses from $575.80 to $339.85 in 2019 — a more than 40% savings.

in the process, we found the fortunate side effect of a reduced carbon footprint and a dramatic drop in food waste. put in place our strategies and do the same today. cutting food waste can lead to favorable outcomes for society and the environment.

it can even save you money — and you have full control over it.

reducing food waste can save you money

when food is wasted, so too are the resources used to produce that food.

an average u.s. household spends about $5,850 per year on food, according to the aaea.

reducing waste is an opportunity for households to directly improve the environment and strengthen their own financial position. while landfills are overflowing with wasted nutrition, food banks run out of resources to provide for those in need. in the time of a global pandemic, those most vulnerable tend to be those most in need of resources like food banks.

food waste in the united states

the average u.s. household wastes 31.9% of the food it purchases. consumer‐level food waste was valued at $240 billion in a single year, according to the aaea. the average u.s. household loses $1,866 on wasted food per year, according to a recent penn state study. this food waste is all-encompassing within a household: groceries, restaurants, and fast food. 

the money you might be wasting in the food you throw away

penn state’s study is based on u.s. households, which the census defines as 2.5 people. that means there’s $746.40 per person, per year or $62.20 per month in wasted food for just one person! cutting your personal food waste in half could put enough money into your budget for your netflix subscription and cell phone bill combined. not to mention all the knock-on effects to the environment.

so what can you do?

it’s easy to say we can reduce our food waste to help the environment and ourselves. but what actual steps can we take to make this change? here are five ways to reduce food waste and save money.

1. rethink what a meal is

if you’re like me, you grew up with a dinner plate that was nicely divided between three sections. it was a little pie chart of meat, a “starch,” and hopefully a vegetable. eggs were for breakfast. cereal was a complete meal. sandwiches with cold cuts were for lunch.

it doesn’t have to be that way. it can be any way you want, you’re an adult!

you don’t have to eat meals the way that we’ve decided they should be in the last 1% of the timeframe of human existence (and 1% is very generous). your goal is to satiate yourself and provide adequate nutrition, at a reasonable cost.

2. rethink your diet from zero

that doesn’t mean you need to switch to a diet of rice and beans. but, it does mean you should rethink your diet: start from the ground up rather than trying to remove things from your current diet. consciously add dishes that meet nutritional requirements along with foods you enjoy! devise how they can fit into your meal plan.

if you couldn’t care less how you eat it, identify the healthiest ingredients at the lowest cost, stick them in a blender, and go to town. kale and peanut butter in a smoothie? i mean, have you tried it? 

no one said you have to use a fork!

3. don’t let time be the master of your meals

you can eat dinner things for breakfast. leftover beans from last night’s dinner? mix them in with your eggs! just because you don’t normally eat green beans with your breakfast doesn’t mean you can’t. 

if you’ve run out of your typical breakfast foods, don’t force yourself to run out and restock the eggs just because they’re the normal accompaniment. challenge yourself to incorporate the beans with breakfast instead. you’ll help prevent your leftover food from going to waste and make your tongue a little more flexible.

having flexibility in your diet and your idea of what a meal is will permit you to be more efficient by maximizing your food use and reducing waste. flexibility saves you money, and not only with food.

4. don’t buy bulk when you don’t eat bulk

i don’t know about you, but our household is just two people. we’re decidedly averaged sized, too. i don’t know why we so often wind up with “family-sized” multi-packs of oatmeal that might be intended to feed horses. actually, i think i know why.

for years, we’ve read those repetitive “10 grocery tips to save money!” type of articles. they typically include:

• buy in bulk

• pay the lowest per unit/ounce price

here’s the thing. that’s great starting advice when you’re just trying to get an idea of how to save money on groceries. but, if you’re not in a household of four people, bulk buying could be more expensive. we’ve followed that simple starting advice and wound up with more than our fair share of big-bottle condiments sitting in the bottom fridge shelf slowly changing colors. 

i thought ketchup was supposed to be a brighter red?

here’s the advice when you’re concerned about your food budget and waste: buy what you need!

put that optimizing part of your brain to work on figuring out how much of the product you actually use over time. purchase the size that’ll be consumed before it begins to crawl out of the fridge on its own.

reduce waste, save money.

5. grocery price-shop online; avoid driving

most grocery stores have their in-store pricing available online either through their website or app. if the brand itself doesn’t, you might have luck getting an idea of the prices by using contracted shopper services like instacart (though their prices tend to be marked up a bit). this also lets you compare pricing with online grocers like amazon or boxed from the comfort of your home.

if you want to get the absolute lowest price for your grocery list and are willing to make multiple trips to do it, do your price comparisons online. 

generally, it’s probably not worth it to go to multiple locations (especially when a car is involved) to save a few extra dollars. if you can live in an urban environment that’ll let you walk to pickup your food, that makes it easier to locally price-shop.

save money and improve the environment by reducing food waste

altering your perceptions of what a meal can be, when to have it, and not giving into marketing hype will let you rethink what food means to you. using the tactics outlined in this article, along with a few extras focused on reducing costs, let us save over 40% on our monthly grocery budget while eating a healthful diet.

a pleasant side effect has been a much lighter trash bag with barely any food waste in sight. it’s taken us some time, but our grocery spending reduction has lead to more efficient use of resources and a small improvement to the environment we had full control over.

you have the ability to make the same changes as we did, today. you can add to your wealth while taking less from the world around you.

what do you intend to do to help solve food waste in america? reach out to tictoclife on twitter with your ideas!