MNN - Mother Nature Network

My review of “American Wasteland” — a book by Jonathan Bloom about how the U.S. wastes about half of its food — started quite the conversation on MNN’s Facebook page about how to reduce food waste. Here are some of my favorite tips from MNN’s readers:

 

1. Eat local and stop depending on a food manufacturer that is provinces/states or countries away to supply you with your food. — Mélanie Plourde

 

2. Build a few farms around each community, and export nothing unless we receive something of equal or greater value in return. — Austin Halbleib

 

3. Food stores got it easy to eliminate this waste, just donate the food that is about to expire and hasn’t been sold yet. — Lucy Irene Colio

 

4. Sell near-expiration dated food at a deep discount. — Barbara Pape

 

5. Open up those fruit stands on the side of the road — Mary Jane Mettin

 

6. I started at home by putting left overs in glass containers. Chances are higher that I use them when I see them every time I open the fridge. — Levana Naturals

 

7. Compost to put the nutrients back in the soil — Lori Gustafson

 

Have your own tips or ideas for reducing food waste? Share them in the comments — or on Facebook. In the meantime, here's some good news. MNN’s own Melissa Hincha-Ownby writes about how the Walmart Foundation is funding $2 million worth of energy-efficiency projects at food banks and planning to donate more than 1.1 billion pounds of food from both Walmart stores and Sam’s Club locations. The carbon footprint of the well-traveled food at Walmart stores is a matter we'll talk about in a later post.