food
REDUCE FOOD WASTE Words by Kimberly Nicoletti
O
ver the decades, we’ve become more
attentive to recycling, but how much do we
Growing food contributes to greenhouse gases,
Food waste also harms the environment.
think about the impacts of food waste? Sure, we
according to the Food Waste Reduction Alliance.
may have that parental voice in our head telling
The NRDC estimates that nearly 40 million
us to eat everything on our plate, and we may
tons of food ends up in landfills, which makes
feel guilty when we forget about a leftover in the
it the largest municipal solid waste component
fridge. But, guilt isn’t a great motivator (and it feels
in landfills, according to the Environmental
pretty crummy, too). What if, instead, we simply
Protection Agency (EPA).
educated ourselves about food waste and set an
intention to be more mindful, day by day, food bit
methane, which is 21 times more harmful than
by food bit, about using as much food as we buy?
carbon dioxide,” says Madison Muxworthy,
“When it decomposes in landfills, it produces
waste diversion director of the Yampa Valley
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CHALLENGES
Sustainability Council (YVSC) in Steamboat
Up to 40 percent of food produced in the United
Springs.
States goes uneaten, according to the Natural
Resources Defense Council (NRDC), which also
methane emissions in the U.S.
estimates that growing, processing, transporting
and disposing of uneaten food costs a household
and Environmental Protection Agency have set a
of four about 1,800 dollars annually, for a total of
goal for the U.S. to cut its food waste in half by
218 billion dollars nationwide.
2030. Along the Front Range, several community
In fact, landfills account for one-third of all The United States Department of Agriculture
