Megan Hall: Welcome to Possibly, where we take on huge problems like the future of our planet and break them down into small questions with unexpected answers. I’m Megan Hall.
Today, we’re talking about food waste. We know that wasting food is bad for the environment and our wallets, but what are some practical steps we can take to throw out less food?
We had Emma Mejia from our Possibly Team look into this.
Emma Mejia: Hi, Megan!
Megan Hall: So I hate throwing out my groceries - especially because food is so expensive these days. So I want to know these tips, but before we talk about that, can you explain again why this is bad for the environment?
Emma Mejia: That's a great question, to learn more, we talked to Catherine Campbell.
Catherine Campbell: I'm an Assistant Professor and Extension Specialist of Community Food Systems at the University of Florida.
Emma Mejia: Catherine researches the factors that influence the decisions we make around food. She says food waste creates environmental problems on multiple levels.
Catherine Campbell: All of the resources that go into its production,
Emma Mejia: Resources like water to grow the crops, gas to power the trucks that transport the food, and the energy needed to keep it cool….
Catherine Campbell: There are also carbon footprint issues of the food decomposing, right?
Emma Mejia: When food rots, it creates methane, a powerful greenhouse gas. According to the Environmental Protection Agency, in the US, wasted food creates about the same amount of pollution as 50 million gas-powered cars.
Megan Hall: Whoa! That is not great. So, what should I do if I want to waste less of the food I buy?
Emma Mejia: I was wondering the same thing. I've noticed that I have been wasting a little more food than I would like to, so I decided to keep a food waste diary.
Megan Hall: And how did that go?
Emma Mejia: Not well…. The week I tracked my normal food waste. I ended up disposing of a container of ground turkey leftovers, a container of soup leftovers, a pack with 10 slices of cheese, 2 bananas, 4 snack sized cucumbers, a container of diced onions, a pack of green onions, 7 potatoes, half an avocado and an unopened container of sour cream.
Megan Hall: Wow, that's a lot!
Emma Mejia: Yeah I’m not proud of it. Not only did I waste food, but I did the math, and I lost about $30 dollars as well. Luckily for me, Catherine says that if I’m aiming to make a behavior change, keeping a diary is a good first step. That’s because recording data about food waste can help us identify the root cause of our waste.
Catherine Campbell: Common reasons that people waste food are they just buy too much food, your plans change, you forget about it, it goes bad. In some cases, it's not prepared properly. Some cases, people just, you know, you don't like it. You buy it, you try it, you don't really like it.
Emma Mejia: Each of these reasons requires a different kind of solution. And once you know how your food waste happens, you can do something about it.
Megan Hall: So, what did you learn about the source of your food waste?
Emma Mejia: In my case, I wasn't using my leftovers. Instead of eating what I already had, I made new dishes, and eventually my leftovers went bad. Second: I was buying in bulk when I didn’t need to, especially for things like fresh produce. And I didn't have a specific plan for each ingredient I bought.
Megan Hall: So what did Catherine suggest you do?
Emma Mejia: Well for starters, she said to prioritize my leftovers. So, I put them in a very visible place in my fridge and made a very intentional effort to eat them or reuse before they went bad.
Megan Hall: And what about your “bulk buying” problem?
Emma Mejia: She said to be more mindful. So, instead of buying aspirationally or too much for one person, I started buying less than I thought I needed.
Megan Hall: What did this look like the last time you went shopping?
Emma Mejia: Well, instead of buying 4 tomatoes for soup and sandwiches I didn’t know if I would actually end up making, I bought two, causing me to be really intentional with how I used them. While it may seem like common sense to do this, really slowing down to take an extra beat really did help me reduce my waste. And in the end, and I was able to split two tomatoes across three dishes.
Megan Hall: Cool! I think I’m going to have to try some of these tricks myself. Thanks, Emma!
That’s it for today. You can find more information, or ask a question about the way your choices affect our planet, at ask possibly dot org. You can also subscribe to Possibly wherever you get your podcasts or follow us on social media at “ask possibly”
Possibly is a co-production of Brown University's Institute for Environment and Society, Brown’s Climate Solutions Initiative, and Ocean State Media.
