 Having been in and out of the food service industry for over 35 years I saw so much perfectly edible food go to waste. That, plus having grown up in a foodie family, where we gardened and composted leaves, lime and food scraps I decided to start a business ~ Green Quest to do something about the situation.
Composting food scraps (plate, prep and fridge clean-outs are put back into the soil), portion control (take only what you can eat-your stomach is the size of your fist) and inventory control (check the pantry/fridge before you shop and bring a list) are just a few small ways to make a big impact on future generations. The average family fills a five gallon bucket (about 30 lbs) of food waste in less than a month. That food can be added back into the soil to make it moist; requiring less watering, nutrient rich; requiring less fertilizer, disease resistant; requiring less pesticides. Composting food scraps also plays an important role in our overall weather conditions. When food waste goes to the landfill it rots and off gasses methane, a potent green house gas that is aiding in the warming of the planet. If you multiply 30 pounds of food scraps by how many families there are in the U.S. you can begin to get an idea of the staggering amounts of food that are taking up over 45% of the municipal waste stream. http://www.epa.gov/sustainable-management-food/reducing-impact-wasted-food-feeding-soil-and-composting These amounts are not including the food waste that comes right from food production at the farm level, grocery stores, hotel chains, hospitals, educational institutions and stadium events! http://www.nrdc.org/food/wasted-food.asp https://www.nrdc.org/food/files/wasted-food-ip.pdf The thing that gets me so upset is that with all this food in such a wealthy developed country like ours 1 out of 5 people is food insecure. Food insecurity (not knowing where your next meal is coming from) is a growing problem that is gaining more attention lately. Sadly many of the people who cannot get to food on their own are kids and seniors, some of our most valuable and precious parts of the population. http://www.feedingamerica.org/hunger-in-america/impact-of-hunger/ John Oliver puts his humorous spin on it. https://youtu.be/i8xwLWb0lLY The above photo is from: http://www.bloomberg.com/bw/articles/2013-01-10/living-in-the-united-states-of-food-waste Check out the links and hopefully you'll become, outraged, encouraged or inspired! How can you compost? More info to come... DL
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