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Compared to plastic or paper, food waste is one of the few materials that can decompose quickly. However, that does not mean it’s a good practice to throw it away because the decomposition of food in a garbage landfill harms the environment. It releases toxic gases like nitrous oxide and methane, which are more damaging than carbon dioxide.
You can do your part to save the environment by reducing food waste before it leaves your premises! Read on to make food waste management at home a successful practice.
5 Ways to Get Rid of Food Waste at Home
Food waste comprises edible and inedible substances produced on a large scale in either household or commercial sites. Over 30% of the food is wasted annually, making this a global issue. Let’s glance at five effective ways to curb food wastage at home:
- Home Composting
Food Waste Composting is one of the most effective ways to drastically reduce home-generated food waste. When you make a home compost, you minimize the harm food waste causes in the landfill and create a valuable contribution to environmental improvement.
This method works best when you have a garden where you can produce your own natural fertilizer by recycling food waste, how long does beef jerky last? Since food is high in nitrogen, combine it with dry leaves, sawdust, wood chips, sticks, shredded paper, and yard waste. Make sure the food waste compost doesn’t get too wet because that will slow down the process. Avoid adding dairy, meat, oil, fat, and carbohydrates, as they are odor-causing pest-attracting elements.
- Wormery Solution
Without adding worms to your home compost, the process takes up to twelve months. However, when worms are involved in the home food composting process, it speeds up to 90 days. It is a great way to reduce grocery demands and help the environment turn less food waste by increasing gardening production and managing food waste effectively.
- Donating Food
Most of the time, the majority of the food waste that gets dumped is still in edible condition. It is your responsibility to take care of this, as there are many ways in which you can manage edible food waste, one of them being donating leftover food.
There are several food banks or homeless shelters where you can donate your leftover food. Besides these options, you can hand the food waste to pet food manufacturers or local farmers. By doing this, you save landfills from getting filled up, save the environment by using less energy on recycling, curb the effects of a landfill, and also fulfill your duty as a human being by sharing food with the people who need it.
- Food Leftovers
Talking about sensibly using leftovers and reducing food waste, apart from donations, you can reuse your leftovers in other creative ways. For instance,
- Banana peels can be rubbed on your leather shoes, expensive silverware, or plant leaves to polish them.
- Mashed potatoes can be used in sandwiches or potato pancakes. Moreover, you can use potato peels to treat burns, infections, boils, or sore eyes.
- Leftover fruits can be turned into popsicles or smoothies.
- The skin of carrots, apples, or onions can be used to make soup stock with great taste and high nutritional value.
- If you have extra steamed vegetables, you can mix them with noodles or rice or bake them in a casserole.
- Food Waste Disposer
A food waste disposer is a device that has been installed in households in countries such as the USA, New Zealand, and Australia. These disposers are attached under the kitchen sink and work by crushing the waste items into smaller chunks to avoid them from clogging the sewer system.
This gadget is one of the most convenient ways to take out food waste without actually throwing it away. Moreover, it also allows you to spend less time cleaning the mess. The bad odor that comes with keeping food waste is also eliminated, and you save the environment by reducing the greenhouse gas produced due to garbage trucks.
The Change Begins with You
Food waste is not just a national issue anymore. It’s becoming more of a global problem as the environment gets affected the most due to the pollution caused by this type of garbage.
Kitchen junk is known to be one of the leading causes of greenhouse gas emissions and can be labeled as the most prominent reason for wasting natural resources. Although there are different sources of wasted food like unsold market food, dish waste from restaurants, or shredding from food preparations in hotels, the food that gets wasted in our household is not far behind in being the biggest contributors. And as the saying goes, “the change begins with you” take the initiative to curb food waste for a greater tomorrow!
