My cousin lives next to a carrot farmer. Every week a dump truck drops off carrots to feed to his deer and pigs. Do you know how many carrots can fill a dump truck? So many it’s comical. When I saw the enormous mound of orange in his forest, I couldn’t help but laugh. My cousin replied, “Well, it’s either here or the garbage.”
According to recent estimates we throw away 40% of our edibles every year, that’s approximately $27 billion worth of food. But it’s not just the stores, growers and manufacturers, consumers who throw food out at home are responsible for 51% of the waste.
In a world where we now pay environmental fees and taxes to deal with the influx of electronic waste, why aren’t we handling a growing problem within our food industry and culture?
Some people are tackling this problem one meal at a time. Freegans salvage usable food from dumpsters and make their meals out of it. Waste not, want not, right?
HOW DO YOU HANDLE FOOD WASTE? Freeze? Buy and cook in small batches? Compost?
HOW DO YOU THINK WE SHOULD HANDLE FOOD WASTE?
Would you become a freegan? Should there be a food waste tax?
Post your comments on the blog, email feedback@CBCRadio3.com or tweet @CBCRadio3
Sara Ross from The Beehive Buzz explaining and debunking some myths about freeganism:
http://radio3.cbc.ca/play/band/Lanarama/Sara-Ross-on-Freeganism-Part-1
Sara's tips on salvaging:
http://radio3.cbc.ca/play/band/Lanarama/Sarah-Ross-on-Freeganism-Part-2
The photo today is from her blog, and the results of a dumpster run.