Last Friday I went to a free showing of the movie Wasted: The Story of Food Waste, hosted by the SAFE Club from Illinois Central College. The event came across my Facebook page a couple of weeks ago. Just the mention of the words "documentary", "food", and "waste" all in the same glorious sentence sent my heart running wild! I immediately signed up to attend the event.
I looked forward all week to hearing more about how we can work together to recover, reuse, and resist wasting food.
Here's a link to the YouTube trailer, so you can get an idea of the topics covered in the movie.
Background:
The viewer is introduced to the five levels of the EPA's Food Recovery Hierarchy, each containing multiple, innovative start-ups and programs.
As you can see, it resembles an upside down food pyramid food. The producers of Waste believe that implementing even a few of these ideas could not only feed the hungry, but could also provide cheap, readily available fuel and change the world as we know it.
Although the language in Wasted was definitely on the "Earthy side", the concepts, ideas, and presentation did not disappoint. The movie pointed out that 90% of food waste winds up in landfills, where a lack of oxygen results in not only methane gas, but also materials which stubbornly refuse to decay at all! A head of lettuce can last 25 years in a landfill before completely decomposing!
Ideas which impressed me:
Although, really the entire film is worth viewing, there were are few standout ideas for me.The Daily Table
Among the commercial ventures mentioned in the film, is The Daily Table, a grocery store, located in the inner city of Dorchester, Massachusetts. They specialize in gathering and selling food, which may otherwise have been destined for the landfill. There is nothing wrong with this food. It's just too big or too small to be sent to conventional supermarkets. It may be a little bruised or be considered "ugly", by industry standards. The Daily Table sells it to customers at discounted prices, also offering information on nutrition through their recipes and free cooking classes.
Eco-Feed
Even though I don't eat meat, I was intrigued by Eco-Feed, a company based in the Netherlands. They specialize in basically adding water and then pulverizing food waste into lacto-fermented pulp. The resulting liquid is rich in naturally occurring enzymes and probiotics, much like kefir, or kombucha, or kimchi. This feed allows farmers to raise livestock without the use of any additional antibiotics, and yet the animals still remain protected from pathogens. This unique product also apparently results in very tasty meat.
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Hope
South Korea food waste tax
As you all know, I hate wasting food! My personal goal is to throw out
no more than 3% of all food that enters my home. But, this law, instituted in South Korea, would challenge even me! Each household is charged for the weight of their land waste. They take their food waste to centralized containers each week, key in their ID code, and then are charged a fee based on how much they throw out. Wow! Can you imagine what this would look like in America, where the average family throws away $1500 worth of food every year?
Individual Responsibility
The film wraps up, as it should, with a plea for individuals to eat real food, learn to cook, use ugly produce, compost, and use every scrap of food. The great thing about this idea is that everyone can participate, no matter their age or income level!
I'm not sure I would watch this film again. But, it certainly made me aware of global and national programs and companies, who are actively pursuing reusing and reducing food waste. It helps me bring it down to an individual level. For our family, it's all about pledging to use the resources, with which God has gifted us, wisely and appropriately.
I'd love some dialogue! What are your thoughts about this topic? Let me know in the comments section.
Links:
For my personal goals and tips on not wasting food read:
Wasting Food! Our family goal is to throw out no more than 3% of all food which comes into our home. This article is filled with easy-to-follow, practical, real-life tips on how my family avoids food waste.
Putting Food By for Winter. Don't throw out fruits or veggies! This three part series gives you step-by-step instructions for successfully freezing produce for later use. I've listed individual links for each post below.
Putting Food By for Winter. Don't throw out fruits or veggies! This three part series gives you step-by-step instructions for successfully freezing produce for later use. I've listed individual links for each post below.
For information about the SAFE Club at ICC: check out their Facebook page:
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Do all to the glory of God,
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