December 2019

Ensure No Organic Waste for One Week

 
Tips to meet the challenge:
 
1) Take an inventory of your refrigerator:
  • Prioritize using items that are close to their expiration and seek to learn more about potentially misleading labeling like "best by dates" and "sell by dates"
  • Create your meal plan starting with items you already have
  • Eat leftovers
  • Consider moving perishables you know you will not be able to consume this week to the freezer
2) Be mindful when you prepare food:
  • All parts of vegetables and most fruits are edible.  Put your scraps in a processor or blender and then freeze the blended scraps and add to soups and sauces for added flavor and nutrients. 
  • Avoid the peeler.  Not only are skins edible, they often contain the most nutrients
  • Add mushy fruit to your smoothies - in fact even citrus peels can be added to smoothies, increasing your fiber and reducing organic waste
  • Save and freeze meat scraps for use in making stock
  • Look online. There are many proposed uses for things like eggshells and coffee grounds that don't include composting
3) Be mindful when you grocery shop
  • Try to not shop unless your perishables from the last trip are already consumed
  • Buy only what you need. This includes going for the loose vegetables vs the bagged so you control the quantity
4) Be mindful when you eat out
  • If portions are large, consider sharing before you order
  • Take home leftovers AND eat them
Yes, you can compost and that is better than throwing organics in your garbage, but not every residence has curb-side organic pickup and not every residence can implement home composting.  That is why the EcoClub December EcoChallenge is an effort to reduce organic waste in the first place. 
 
This challenge originated after hearing from Paul Kroening, Hennepin County Recycling Manager during our November 19th meeting.  Here is a bit of what we learned: 
 
A third of the waste stream in Hennepin County is organic waste.  Organic waste is important to manage because its decomposition creates greenhouse gasses. 
 
In modern landfills very little oxygen is introduced into the decomposition process.  The gasses that are produced during decomposition of organics in a landfill are 50% methane (because this decomposition happens without oxygen) and methane is a much more potent greenhouse gas than carbon dioxide - about 25 times more potent. 
 
There are gas collection systems in landfills, however there are theories that the food decay happens so soon after being added to the landfills that the collection systems capture little of the methane gas created by organics.  Instead, that methane is released into our atmosphere. 
 
By participating in the Rotary EcoClub EcoChallenge for December 2019, regardless of your access to organic recycling or your ability to compost, you will reduce your organic waste and help reduce the methane that is created when organics are left to decompose in landfills. 
 
Share your progress - the hurdles and the success - with Rotary EcoClub and your family and friends!