1. Food Waste

2. How is food waste a sustainability issue? (WA Q1)
Waste resources
Land, water, ag inputs, energy to transport and retail, packaging
Carbon emissions
Landfill space
Can push up food prices
Deprives GS producers of income
Perfectly edible, but ‘flawed’
Lack infrastructure to move food

3. Combatting Food Waste Change gov’t policies Embrace ‘flawed’ produce
Standardize expiration dates
In EU- feed livestock food waste
Embrace ‘flawed’ produce
Improve, introduce technology
Collection programs for unused foods
Save Food, DC Central Kitchen, Disco Soup

4. Waste & You In what ways do you waste food?
Do you feel differently after the readings?
Have you worked somewhere that repurposes unused food or volunteered to transport it?

5. Recycling & REusing

6. Why aren’t lights recycled in the US. but in China? (WA Q2)
Not in US…
…but in China
Need financial incentives for recycling
Labor is cheaper
Fewer regulations
High overhead
Reuse for production
U.S. ‘harvests’ lights
Copper in wiring, electronics
Plastics for local markets

7. How does harvesting differ in the US and China? (WA Q3)
Gov’t coordinated
Not gov’t coordinated
Where economic incentive
Waste collected down line
Cost effective to sustain
Have after-market
Make profit
Reuse when possible
Need after-market
Must be easy

8. Recap Food waste is very costly
Americans especially wasteful
Oversized restaurant portions, don’t eat leftovers
GS waste- poor infrastructure
Farm waste – ‘flawed’ foods
U.S. harvests for recycling; does some recycling
GS better reusers