Addressing the Problem of Food Waste

By Greg Gonzales

In our busy lives, we easily forget exactly what we mean when we say “away.” We throw away old leftovers, vegetable stems and scraps, and eggshells and coffee grounds without a second thought. This kind of thinking, or lack thereof, adds up: U.S. consumers throw away $165 billion worth of food, or 35 million tons, every year, according to the Natural Resources Defense Council and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, respectively. All that food contributes to global warming in a multitude of ways, not just the gases emitted from rot.

There’s a light at the end of this rubbish tunnel, however: Kitchenware retailers can play a unique and important role in helping their customers reduce food waste, through the products they carry and the classes they offer in-store.

“About 40 percent of our food goes to waste in the United States,” said JoAnne Berkenkamp, Senior Advocate at the Healthy People & Thriving Communities Program at the Natural Resources Defense Council. “It’s a massive number, and it has enormous consequences in terms of household food budgets, business profitability and our environment. When we waste food, we waste not only food itself, but also all of the water, pesticides and fertilizers that went into producing it; we waste all the energy that it took to transport it and keep it cold; and we waste all the labor that’s associated with producing and cooking food. So food waste is actually a huge issue from socioeconomic and environmental perspectives.” The problem looks even worse when we consider the numbers involved. Wasted food consumes 21 percent of all fresh water, 19 percent of all fertilizer, 18 percent of all cropland and 21 percent of landfill volume, according to ReFED, a nonprofit organization committed to reducing U.S. food waste.

Consumers, are among the biggest contributors to waste. “Where you look at where food is wasted in our system, over 40 percent of it occurs in consumers’ homes,” said Berkenkamp. “Consumers are the number-one source of wasted food. After that, the largest source is restaurants, followed by grocery stores, so consumers have a very big role to play in being part of the solution.”

That means retailers can help by carrying products that assist consumers in practicing food-saving habits. “Many consumers are confused about how to properly store food, and when food is not stored correctly, that can reduce shelf life and cause the food to go to waste. So products like clear containers for leftovers can help consumers know what’s in their fridge and make sure they use it up,” said Berkenkamp. “We also see things like people not labeling food they put in the fridge or freezer. Without a label on that food, it’s easy to forget what it is, it gets pushed further and further back in the freezer, and goes to waste. Even simple tools like labels for food that gets stored can help consumers do a better job in managing the food that they have.”

Jan Boydstun, Owner of Kitchen Kitchen, a store in Racho Mirage, California, had some recommendations for food-saving products that sell well. For food storage, she recommended the Extra Life Produce Saver. The disc-shaped container gives produce as much as one extra week of freshness, she said, and has a spot where users can mark the date. She also said the Banana Bag and Berry Bag from RSVP International are perfect, as they keep bananas and berries fresh for as much as 10 extra days. “It seems like the material of a ski parka,” she said. “It’s like a drawstring bag you put it in your refrigerator. And it’s really weird because when you open it you see the skins are really brown, and you think, ‘Ugh, it didn’t work,’ but when you peel them they’re perfect inside.”

Boydstun, also known as The Gadget Gal for her national product demonstrations, is no stranger to the gadgets consumers need to make the most of each and every ingredient. She also recommended the Zyliss Easy Pull Food Chopper. “The reason why I love it is, you can throw anything in there, and it’s a lawnmower-like pull, and when you pull it, all the flavors melt together,” she said. “Maybe you have a little onion left over, a little tomato left over, and instead of throwing them out you throw them in here and you have pico de gallo. Your avocado’s about to go bad? Throw it in here with some lime juice and salsa, and you have guacamole. You can make food last longer.”

Boydstun and Kitchen Kitchen Executive Chef Gavin Grabe use a product called the Herbcicle, by Chef’n, to save herbs in the freezer for later. Herbs often go to waste because consumers buy too much of it, and don’t think ahead about storing it or using it later. Grabe adds a little olive oil to some basil or another herb, puts it in the freezer and has fresh basil when he needs it for a recipe.

In his cooking classes at Kitchen Kitchen, Grabe also teaches about how to get the most out of leftovers, how to store them for later and even brings home scraps from the store to compost. He also uses ingredients grown in his own garden for the classes, setting an example for the store’s customers. “I taught a class I titled ‘Recycled.’ The whole class was about recycling in your food and waste, and how you prepare,” said Grabe. “We made a tomato soup first, and then all the scraps go into your compost bin. The leftovers of your soup get made into a chicken dish; the soup becomes your marinara, we’ll call it, then the chicken bones are used to make a broth; when the broth is finished, the bones go into a compost bin. Once the meal is complete, you take the meat and you repurpose it as an empanada. Then what you run into is how to recycle all the herbs you’re using, and the eggs. All my eggs at the store end up at home; whenever I use eggs I put them back into the crate they came in, dry them for about a week and blend them in my Vitamix into a pulp. Sometimes my husband boils them up and makes them into a ‘tea’ we water the garden with; other times I put the crushed shells into my compost bin. Every stage of that is recycling.” He also repurposes the bags all these ingredients come in. “I don’t like to waste at all, so I try to reuse everything at every single level,” he said.

Grabe also stressed the importance of personal research, and the importance of encouraging customers to do their own research, to reinforce mindfulness about waste. About a year-and-a-half ago, Grabe studied up on human impacts on Earth, which made an impact on him. “I made a conscious decision to really change myself,” he said. “I know I’m only one human being on this planet full of billions of us, but I really believe that change can start with one person. I teach this every single time I do a class, every time I talk to people about trying to minimize waste, and trying to use and recycle things they have in their home, and not be so wasteful just throwing stuff away.” Grabe said some people come to his classes purely because they know he’s this kind of chef, who likes to recycle and use wild and organic products.

Not everyone is receptive to the teachings, he said, because they actually have to have an interest in the first place to change themselves, but there’s a growing interest among his audience. “I’ve taken an extra role in doing this kind of stuff. Some people take it for granted because they don’t think about it, aren’t educated on it, and others don’t care,” he said, adding that this is where kitchenware retailers can make their own mark. “I think it depends on the person, but it is about education. We need to educate the general public about how our actions affect the planet.” According to Grabe, the reason food waste has become such a problem is because over the past half-century, consumers have gotten used to 24/7, nonstop abundance. “We’ve grown up in a culture the past 50 or 60 years that is a throwaway culture,” he said. “To this day, you can see it: everything you buy is wrapped in plastic. It’s kind of at the stage where, ‘I can afford an orange, and I can buy two ― and if I don’t need one, I’ll throw one away.’ People become desperate when they have nothing, so if you have no food or you’re homeless, every scrap of food you have means something to you ― but if you have an excess of something, you don’t care about it. Have you ever watched birds and monkeys eat in the wild? When there’s an abundance of food in the spring, they’ll sit and gorge themselves in the treetops, and as they’re eating, they throw scraps down, the food is coming out the sides of their mouths ― but come the end of the year toward winter, they start fighting over every single scrap, and it’s the same with human nature. We have to educate people that we’re excessively using something all the time, and we don’t even care about it. When you go to the supermarket, it’s jam-packed with food all the time. You don’t think about it, this neverending source of supply. Mother Nature is not like that, and this is what’s created this kind of wasteful thinking.”

Compost might not be the first thing one would associate with a kitchenware store, but Boydstun says her store does okay with RSVP International Compost Pails, countertop compost bins that don’t stink up the house, which are available in stainless steel and bamboo. Even better, RSVP offers Biobags, plant-based plastic liners that hold the compost and biodegrade over time. “They’re pretty, so you don’t mind having them on the counter. My chef uses one,” she said. “It’s about the size of a flour canister. They make them smaller, too, but you kind of need a larger one to fit everything in it; your coffee grounds, your eggshells.” She added that it’s not her biggest mover, as most of her customers are snowbirds who eat out often, but that enough people are interested that she likes to carry it, and that it might perform better in other stores.

Boydstun said she believes kitchenware retailers who offer classes, including Kitchen Kitchen, could go further in educating their customers. “What would be good is teaching other people how to compost,” she said. “We haven’t done that, we’ve only taught a class on what to do with leftovers and how to minimize waste. It’d also be good to teach on measurements, how much to use, because you don’t want to make too much unless you’re really good about putting leftovers in the freezer.”

Berkenkamp offered a similar sentiment. “More and more municipalities are starting to offer curbside collection of organic materials, like food scrap or yard waste. That is not available universally, so many community residents can’t easily compost food scrap,” she said. “It’s terrific for consumers to have their own compost, and take those scraps to generate new soil. They can also advocate to their city government to make composting services available whether it’s through city-wide services or neighborhood-level composting sites where residents can take their scraps.” She recommended starting at city council, or contacting the company or organization that provides hauling services in a given area, should a retailer want to advocate for community-level compost collection.

She says there’s a lot of opportunity for small businesses to make a difference, by arming their customers with the tools, ideas and confidence to do so. “More and more consumers are starting to look at the food they waste, and want to find ways to reduce it. Retailers can play a key role in connecting consumers with both the supplies they need to do that at home and the ideas that can help them store food better, make use of what they have and plan better meals for their family,” she said. “I expect that there is a growing market for products and services that assist in consumers trimming food waste at home. Smart retailers will find a way to meet that demand.”