NERC Blog

USDA and EPA launched the U.S. Food Waste Challenge, with the goal of reducing food waste in the United States. Today, there are more than 1,313 participants in the Challenge.

Something for the season...

Bags and bags of dirty diapers have found their way into recycling bins and carts. Full bags of trash are being “recycled.” Food waste — everything from half eaten hamburgers to vegetable scraps to leftover take out — is being found in recycling carts and bins. Why? And why now?

Today’s article is about solid waste management in Delhi, India—the second most populous city in the world. Its inhabitants generate some 10,000 tons of trash each day. India’s Prime Minister has started a “war on waste” in the country.

Just in time for the Thanksgiving holiday feast I offer some facts and comments on food waste. According to the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) of the United Nations, about one-third of food produced for human consumption around the world is lost or wasted each year.

Urban agriculture contributes to supplemental food production and can support economic development and environmental enhancement. Urban agriculture—from community gardens to urban farms—can also play a pivotal role in promoting composting.

Beneath our feet rests several billions of tons worth of garbage that has piled up over the course of the 20th century, and now, the 21st century. So what will we be doing with all this waste in the future?

Today’s blog is written in special remembrance of Tom Magliozzi, of car talk fame, who died yesterday.

Today’s Guest Blog article is by Dick Lilly. It originally appeared in UPSTREAM on September 29, 2014.

The most significant impediment to expanding EPR in the United States today is its narrow, limited constituency. Advocates are hard to find outside of the various states’ product stewardship councils and a few national advocacy organizations.