Are You Gonna Eat That? Solving Food Waste and Saving Money
Heyo!
Food waste is often overlooked in our fight against the global waste crisis. Americans alone waste 30% to 40% of their food supply and globally over 900 million tonnes of food is wasted each year. The majority of which goes to landfills, where it rots in conditions that prevent it from composting and releases greenhouse gasses that fuel climate change.
Retail outlets, stores, and supermarkets discard food that is still perfectly edible, and around 60% of global food waste is generated at home. Composting is also a challenge for many of us living in urban spaces.
Luckily, there are some great apps and initiatives that aim to combat this. Here’s the tea on the latest developments and how you can use them to do your bit at home and work:
Wasteless: Tech Tying Food Waste to Consumer Savings
Wasteless has developed a technology that used machine learning to provide retailers with two prices on each food tab for perishable products, showing a lower price for items nearing their expiration date. This encourages consumers to buy the products they will use within that time frame and save money, as well as the food from going to waste. A win-win for everyone involved!
Apeel: High Tech Food Imaging Reveals the Quality of Fresh Food Items
Apeel, the makers of the edible produce covering that replaces plastic packaging and prolongs shelf life, are rolling out a new technology that analyses the internal quality of fresh produce. This will tell us how long the item will last, its ripeness, and its nutritional value! Information that will inform purchases of items that might be discarded but are actually perfectly good inside, reducing food waste and allowing consumers to make factually informed choices right in the produce aisle.
Apps and Initiatives to Use at Home for Local Food Waste Reduction, Savings, and Composting
When it comes to food waste at home, the onus is on each of us to make some changes. But how, exactly, do you do this? Making informed choices and knowing your local options is the key. Below are some great resources, apps, and initiatives to make it a lot easier (and save you money!) to do your part, every day!
Start reducing your food waste (or up your game) with these awesome guides and resources:
Zero-Waste Cooking & Recipes: The Complete Guide
9 Awesome Zero-Waste Stores: Online & Offline
5 Green Alternatives to Aluminum and Tin Foil
Organic Gardening: The Easy-to-Follow Guide for 2021
7 Food Waste Apps for Saving Money *and* the Planet
Infographic: How To Compost at Home
That’s it for today. Go forth and eat your leftovers!
Before you go, tell us how you’re tackling your food waste at home?
We love the messages we get from our readers and hearing your insights and suggestions! Get in touch by replying to this email so we can have a chat :)
Best,
Liza and Johanna