Green Options » food waste

Louisiana Red Hot Sauce Goes Green with Methane Capture

Tina Casey — Sun, 26 Jul 2009 00:50:47 +0000

Bruce Foods, maker of legendary “Original” Louisiana Hot Sauce, is leading all other hot sauces into a more sustainable future. The company has nearly completed an expansion of its food processing plant in Wilson, North Carolina that includes a major methane capture installation. The Wilson plant, one of four owned by the Tex-Mex specialist, produces canned yams, potatoes and gravies, which results in huge mounds of food waste and consequently a prodigious output of methane. Previously, the plant simply vented the methane but purchased natural gas to run its equipment. After the expansion is complete, the plant will run mainly on recovered methane.

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Wonky Veggies Welcomed Back Into the EU

Cate Nelson — Wed, 01 Jul 2009 03:30:40 +0000

A 20-year rule regulating the shape of produce is now being lifted in the European Union. Now, shoppers can find the hilarity in two-legged carrots and twisty cucumbers.

36 vegetables now have the freedom to be ugly, reports the Times Online:

The intention is to lower the price of fresh food and to cut red tape for growers and importers.

Retailers estimate that prices for misshapen and blemished produce will be about 40 per cent lower.

Now, even in a recession, no one has an excuse to refuse when asked to “Eat your vegetables!”

However, some produce must still adhere to strict rules.

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The Missing Link: Chains Are a Smart Move for Tyrolean Food Waste Recycler

Tina Casey — Sun, 05 Apr 2009 01:03:39 +0000

If the experience of one Tyrolean farm in the village of Schlitters, Austria is any indication, food waste recycling is in for a big step up. The farm just added a biogas plant to its operations, using a new design that can boost methane yields from biogas by 30%. The secret? That’s where the missing link comes in.

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Don’t be a Grinch: Keep Christmas Leftovers from Getting Dumped

Robin Shreeves — Wed, 24 Dec 2008 13:09:36 +0000

Que the voice of Boris Karloff…

It was quarter past dawn…
All the Whos, still a-bed,
All the Whos, still a-snooze
When he packed up his sled,
Packed it up with their presents! The ribbons! The wrappings!
The tags! And the tinsel! The trimmings! The trappings!

When the Grinch stole Christmas, he not only stole the presents, he stole all the things that accompany Christmas that end up as waste. He stole the ribbons, the wrappings, the tags, the tinsel, the trimmings, the trappings plus the Christmas trees and the food for the feast.

And what was the Grinch going to do with all that stuff he really didn’t want?

Three thousand feet up! Up the side of Mt. Crumpit,
He rode with his load to the tiptop to dump it!

Pretty much the same thing most of us have done in the past with all our Christmas leftovers, right? We dumped them. Not off the side of Mt. Crumpit, but in the trash.

This year, when we’ve got things leftover from Christmas, let’s be responsible with their disposal.

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Compost vs Landfill: Does it Really Make a Difference?

Robin Shreeves — Tue, 02 Dec 2008 17:03:39 +0000

Last week I wrote a post about curbside composting programs that some cities have started. One of the benefits of keeping compostable food out of landfills, I wrote, is that it reduces landfill methane - a greenhouse gas that is 72% more powerful than carbon dioxide.

One of the readers, Dean, posed a question in the comments.

Does this actually reduce methane emissions? It seems, based on the lack of detail in the article, that the same amount of methane would be produced whether the organic waste was sitting in a compost pile or a landfill. Why wouldn’t that be true?

This is a good question, and I thought it deserved to be answered in a post instead of just a reply in the comments section.

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My Private, Sustainable Mini Mart: Go Green with a Stocked Pantry

Lisa Kivirist — Wed, 03 Sep 2008 22:40:24 +0000

When I moved from my Chicago apartment to a Wisconsin farm, I traded convenience for countryside. No more quick runs to the mini mart store at the end of the urban block for a missing ingredient. With civilization now a fifteen minute drive away, I’ve evolved to have all the necessities to do anything from feeding a round of B&B guests to whipping up multiple pear pies.

So here’s the simplest route to sustainability: keep a stocked pantry. Save money, time and fossil fuel – not to mention upping nutritional value — by dining chez you. Maybe not as sexy an eco initiative as backpacks with PV panels, but keeping an organized, stocked pantry goes a long way in creating a self-reliant, green kitchen and household.

Stocking the pantry saves time and money – two non-renewable resources and drains on greening our lifestyle. With a little planning and organization, your pantry will never let you down. I recently gushed about my pantry passion in an article for Hobby Farm Home magazine, going into more detail on stocking the kitchen.

Here’s a few starter tips:

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Pump Up Your Pantry: Three Tips to Stock Up and Save Money

Lisa Kivirist — Wed, 03 Sep 2008 22:39:47 +0000

Artists keep stocked with paint, pencils and other supplies so they can craft a masterpiece whenever the creative muse hits. Likewise, as someone passionate about food and cooking, your palette is your kitchen. Keep it stocked with the core ingredients necessary to whip up anything from bag lunches for the kids to an impromptu dinner party.

Here’s a few starter tips:

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The Shocking Statistics of Food Waste (and How to Keep Your Contribution to the Problem at a Minimum)

Robin Shreeves — Mon, 25 Aug 2008 18:50:33 +0000

Last year at my twice monthly morning mother’s group, we were treated to garbage bags full of day old bagels, breads, cookies, and other baked goods courtesy of a local Panera Bread. How did we get them? All we had to do was ask. There was so much that I would bring reusable bags and take home bagels, loaves of Italian, ciabatta, and focaccia bread, and often a few cookies. Many of the woman did the same. If our group hadn’t taken them, chances are they would have been thrown in the trash.

Before you get all self-righteous about the waste of food by restaurants, think back to the last time you cleaned out your refrigerator. What did you throw out? How about the last time you ate in a restaurant? What did you leave on your plate?

Last week at World Water Week in Stockholm, Sweden, some shocking food waste statistics were presented. What place does food waste talk have at a water conference? It takes a lot of water to produce the food that is ultimately wasted.

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As Food Costs Rise, Consumers Look At Food Waste

Kelli Best-Oliver — Wed, 21 May 2008 17:49:00 +0000

I talked last week about how something that I struggle with as the cook/kitchen manager/stocker of our household is food waste–buying things with the good intentions of using them, only to find them two weeks later covered in mold or past the expiration date: food waste. Interestingly enough, the New York Times ran an article this weekend on the excessive food waste that happens in American households. With the cost of food skyrocketing, they’re not the only ones.

To be honest, the idea that we as a nation waste more food than some countries consume in a year is nothing new. Freegans have made a point of living off others’ perfectly-good “waste” for quite some time now.

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