Last week we talked about the Food Hierarchy, and most of the options focused on the systemic ways to reduce food waste, but this week we are going to talk about how we, as individuals, can do our part. 

If you’ve never heard of the Food Hierarchy before, it is the EPA’s way of creating a system to tackle the problem with food waste once and for all. It shows the different levels that waste happens at, and how we should solve it. To determine how individuals make a difference we will apply these systemic structures to our lives. 

For instance, the biggest issue is reducing food production, or source reduction, which normally refers to stores and restaurants needing to order less food so that less food is produced. However, if we think of ourselves as the next stop on the food supply chain, we can make a difference. If we order (and subsequently waste) less food for our houses and businesses, stores and restaurants will need less, and less will be produced. 

The next level of the food recovery hierarchy is feeding people who are hungry with the food that we already have. If we’ve gotten too much food for our household or business, we can make sure to pass that food along to people who need it instead of letting it go to waste. Harvesters is a great local resource for that, or even just looking into your community for people to trade surplus food stuff — start the bartering system again!

After that, the solution is to feed animals with excess food scraps. That can be your own animals and plants (make sure you find a way to do this safely), or you can find ways to donate your food scraps to local farmers who can use them to feed livestock. 

Then we get to industrial uses, which includes breaking down food waste anaerobically to create biogas to be used to power engines, run vehicles, and supply homes with natural gas. This seems like something we can’t really translate into a way to help as an individual as these sorts of things usually take industrial level machinery. However, we can support the results of industrial uses. 

• For instance, a new cleaner coming to the market soon called Ambrosia, is made from food scraps. 
• Purchase animal food, soap, and other products that have been made by rendering liquid fats and solid meat products.
• Support the use of biodiesel, which is made from biowaste, creates less pollution, is biodegradable, and nontoxic. 

The second to last option is composting, or feeding the soil, and we have talked a lot on this blog about why you should compost. So get started with Compost Collective today and help with Food Recovery!