Food Waste: What Happens Next is Up to You

Our challenge results, and how to build on them

Simple climate action at home   //   I S S U E   4   //   F O O D   W A S T E 

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Big Little Habits

By Michael Coren

When I arrived in Washington DC in 2009, I had barely pedaled a bike for nearly a decade. Fed up with congestion and subway lines, I bought my first bike from Craigslist. It was a revelation: no waiting, fresh air, and a renewed appreciation for my city. Cycling is now one of my primary forms of transportation. Years later, it spurred me to join the San Francisco Bicycle Coalition, and then the YIMBY movement backing low-carbon public transit and affordable housing in cities. 

One simple act — cycling to work one spring morning in the capitol — ignited a political commitment that’s still going strong one decade later. 

Our personal actions matter. When our lives conflict with our values, it’s hard to imagine how things in the world can change, especially when systems conspire against us. The oil and gas industry is one example: it blames Americans for their oil “addiction” in the same way tobacco companies once blamed smokers addicted to their products. 

The answer is to take small steps in the right direction. That’s the journey we’re on with Hothouse. Our challenges are designed to offer everyone a small step or a big commitment. Every action makes the next one possible. 

Photo: Jared Lisack

The Hothouse Challenge: Your Results

Thanks for joining us this month. Some readers made a big dent cutting their waste in half or more by employing some simple tips from the newsletter. While we don’t yet have a statistically significant sample, we’ve estimated the cumulative impact of carrying this forward, and some of your successes. 

What worked? 

Getting motivated: “[The first newsletter] outlining the effects of food waste was highly motivational,” said a former food waster. “And the tips have made me much better organised and less cavalier with regards to leftovers.”

Simply keeping track: Several people said that the mere act of writing down the waste kept it top of mind, meaning leftovers were more likely to end up as dinner rather than trash.  

Cutting portion sizes: A common habit for parents is to cook too much, a mother of two pointed out, overestimating how much two small children will eat. A better solution is to cook smaller portions, and top up with toast or crackers.

What was tough? 

Finding a way to compost: Diverting from landfill is not always easy. When some things don’t get eaten, frozen, or thrown into stews, the only option is to toss. But there are many simple composting products on the market, including the excellent HotBin in the UK, as well as some designed to work inside without odour. It’s the simplest way to divert your food waste from landfill.

Freezer burn: It’s easy to lose track of food in the fridge and freezer. After dumping one too many fish sticks in the deep freeze for too long, I reorganized storage so we can find everything easily and before it expires. Win-win for our sanity, bank account, and waste. Here’s my favorite chart on how to treat your produce and reorg that fridge. 

Getting the household on board: “My main problem was getting my partner to care in the way that I do,” said one Hothouser. Luckily, we heard from Anne-Marie Bonneau, our zero waste chef about this. Her answer? Scolding never works. Quietly and consistently doing your zero-waste thing is what works. People will (and do) come around. 

Our impact

Anecdotally, we saw several households cut their food waste by at least 50%. How much would that reduce our household emissions by?

The carbon footprint of our diets varies according to what we eat, and where we live. The average American family of four with a heavy meat diet will have a weekly “carbon foodprint” of 252 kg CO2e. To get that in perspective, that’s equivalent to driving 624 miles by car. (Emissions are measured in CO2e, which means all greenhouse gas emissions converted into their carbon dioxide equivalent). 

If that same family wasted 30% of their food, that means 76 kg of emissions were generated unnecessarily. For vegetarian families, the wasted food would account for 44 kg CO2e, and for vegan families 36 kg CO2e. 

What could we achieve if every Hothouse reader permanently cut their food waste by 50%? Over the course of one year, we could save combined emissions of 173,000 kg of CO2e. That’s the same as 7,200 miles by plane. Or 428,000 miles by car.

So What’s Next?

It feels good to take some control over your own life. It helps understand the issue, and spreads awareness. But the hard truth is — it’s nowhere near enough. If you really want to take personal action to address climate change, you need to take bigger, more meaningful steps that are part of a much larger push for systemic change, from government and industry down. We’re going to show you how to start leveling up.

Food waste needs addressing everywhere, from farms and processing to retailers, restaurants and in our own homes. We’ve outlined the three big spheres of your life to act: at home, in the community, and in our companies and governments.

Illustration: Jago Silver

Step One: Personal

• Cut your own food waste with our tips: Buy less fresh food, including when eating out. Ignore best before dates, and store food in glass or clear containers so you can see what needs eating. Sketch out a few of the week’s meals to help use up what you already have. Organize your fridge, and use your freezer more. Explore leftover recipes. And compost at home if you can. 

• Tell your friends and family: We find it’s best to gently point out the advantages of cutting your food waste, rather than being too critical!

Step Two: Community

Wherever you live, there will be nonprofits nearby tackling food waste, hunger, or both. 

• Donate: Find a good project local to you and support it with a monthly donation. 

• Volunteer: If you have more time, find out what they need help with and join in. Volunteering gives practical help, but has also been shown to improve our mental health and happiness.

• Advocate: Organize a Food Waste Week at work, or set up a Green Team at your school that can save money and cut waste.

In London, the Felix Project is just one of several initiatives that redistribute quality, discarded food to charities and schools. In New York, City Harvest does the same. In Oakland, California, FoodShift’s project goes further, also offering apprenticeships to vulnerable people and giving them new skills. As we explored earlier this month, local community fridges are a great way to make sure good food reaches people who need it. 

Step Three: Governance

Government, and big business need to hear your voice. This week, both California and the UK government announced that new petrol and diesel cars won’t be sold after 2035. Google announced it will be running entirely on clean energy by 2030. The apocalyptic weather events, including wildfires and flooding in the US this past month, are further proof that we are now living with the realities of a changing climate. We need much more action, and faster.

• Big business: Does your supermarket chain dump food? Trader Joe’s and Costco scored worst in nationwide research from 2018. In the UK, M&S, The Co-op, Iceland and Waitrose all scored badly too. Write and ask about their food waste policy, and how they are improving their systems. And find and support the businesses in your community that are actively promoting sustainable practices that avoid food waste. 

• Local and national government: Does your area need a green bin service? Would you like to see more incentives for local restaurants to donate their quality, leftover food? Would you like support for local schools to set up on-site composting? Contact your local elected representatives (find them in the US, and UK) and ask them to do more.

Wherever your Hothouse journey takes you, let us know. Send this newsletter on to friends, encourage them to try our challenge, and share your progress on Facebook and Instagram. Next week, we’re moving on to the scourge of plastics and the problems with recycling. Join us!

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Hothouse is a weekly climate action newsletter written and edited by Jemima Kiss, Mike Coren, and Jim Giles. We rely on readers to support us, and everything we publish is free to read.