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Food, Too Good to Waste Webinar Follow-Up

RethinkWaste held a webinar about food waste on August 27, 2020. This page provides the webinar recording, presentation slides, links to more resources, and all of the questions submitted by attendees. If you have additional questions, fill out the form at the bottom of the page.

Starting with what we can do as individuals in our own homes is one part of the equation in stopping food waste. When individual actions are combined, we can then make collective action within our broader community, including pushing for changes in policy or systems. But it begins with individual day to day actions!  

We hope you find the following resources helpful in your personal journey to stop food waste.

Resources:

To view a recording of the webinar and the live Q&A, click the recording below.

1. Are there any new/innovative ways to encourage (maybe even mandate or control) usage of the green bins? I saw that in Korea, they charge people to dispose of food waste to discourage waste. It may be too extreme for the U.S. Has San Mateo County improved the percentage of organics in the landfill from the last statistic?

In California we have state laws that are helping increase the availability of the green compost bin. AB 1826 requires businesses and multi-family dwellings (MFDs) to have organics collection services if they generate 4 or more cubic yards of combined garbage, recycling, and compost weekly, while SB 1383 aims at reducing the tonnage of organic waste in the landfill by setting a goal of 75% organic waste diversion by 2025. As we increase the number of businesses and MFDs with compost services, we will get closer to these goals as long as everyone uses these programs and composts correctly. If you live in a MFD that doesn’t have compost service and would like it, reach out to your Property Manager to contact Recology to set it up.

2. How do you motivate friends/family to compost and be intentional about reducing food waste?

Consider making it into a game where you have to cook a meal with just the items available in your refrigerator! You can emphasize the resources and money that goes into producing that food item. Motivations will vary between people so try to find what factors are most important to your loved ones.

3. Do you know of any non-recipe uses for food scraps? For example, using orange peels in potpourri.

Cinnamon or orange peels can be boiled to produce a nice scent in a house and lemon or orange peels soaked in vinegar can be used as a household cleaner. A natural hairspray for a “soft hold” can be made with lemon or orange (depends on hair color) and vodka. Watermelon peels can be used on your face to eliminate oil and to clean pores. Egg shells are great for soil to grow plants. Coffee grounds can also be used to make an exfoliating facial cleanser. Avocado peels and pits can be boiled to use as natural dyes.

4. Do you happen to have good suggestions on storing tofu? It’s one of the foods that goes bad most regularly in my fridge.

Take the leftover tofu, drain the water out, put in a tightly sealed container, add new water in the container and change the water every 2 days. If you don’t think you’ll be able to use it right away, you can freeze it. Before freezing, you can cut it up to how you’ll use it later so it will be easier to manage when it’s frozen.

If you have more questions, fill out the form below!

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