When taking your next breath, think about this — air pollution starts at home — to be more exact it starts in our refrigerators and cupboards where foods we don’t eat get thrown away in the trash. Did you know the average family throws out one of every 4 bags of groceries? That’s a lot of food waste — namely 25% of our solid waste in Connecticut.

It’s no small potatoes that we have a food waste crisis on our hands impacting the environment and your wallet. How so?

• Wasted food contributes 8% of global greenhouse gas emissions because our food is burned at incinerators 
• Air quality is compromised especially for communities in close proximity to incinerators — as we burn more, greater pollutants are released into the atmosphere
• Food waste hits our pockets too — the average family loses $1600 a year on wasted food 
• Our town bears the financial burden of paying for the increased costs of heavier trash with more resources needed to break down our food since it’s mostly water

So now that we know that reducing food waste is the low hanging fruit (or veggie) for clean air, what simple green practices can you start at home to make an outsized impact on our environment?

• Take an inventory of your cabinets before you head to the supermarket to ensure you don’t buy what you already have 
• Make a meal plan each week and buy only what you need
• Make meals ahead of time and freeze in portions; freeze leftovers
• Learn how to be a storage pro with fruits and vegetables — visit Save the Food for best practices and other food conservation tips
• Head to our “Solvable Problem of Food Waste” webpage for more tips and resources.
• Consider a weekly pick up service or drop off for food scraps or try composting in your own backyard — nutrients are returned back to the soil instead of pollutants in the air and compost soil makes for great planting

With simple steps, we can feed our environment with our good, nutritious food – what better way to start green living in our homes.  

Talking Trash with Tammy is a continuing conversation on creating sustainable habits that we can simply and easily turn green. Collectively we can cultivate healthy spaces at home and in our community with an outsized impact for our environment.

Did you find this blog helpful? Share your comments below or connect with Tammy  on green topics you would like her to address. Let’s talk trash!