MINNEAPOLIS -- Serving up a home cooked meal is time well spent but a lot of the food that's going straight into the garbage is a waste.
"I think when people start to look at the materials they're generating in their homes between a quarter and 50 percent of the material in their garbage cans is compostable or preventable," explains Tim Brownell, CEO of Eureka Recycling, a non profit organization in the Twin Cities.
It's easier than we might think to reduce our food waste and wasted food. The trick is knowing the difference....
"Food waste is something like a banana peel, an orange rind or an egg shell. Wasted food is the half of an avocado that goes bad in the fridge. The carrots that get soggy at the back of the drawer, the mystery leftovers in the Tupperware containers," said Lynn Hoffman of Eureka Recycling.
So why worry about food waste?
"In a landfill there's not a lot of oxygen, it's what we call anaerobic environment. In that environment food waste rots slowly and creates a lot of methane. Methane is a green house gas that's more potent than carbon dioxide," Hoffman added.
To help cut down on methane gas in landfills, you can create your own compost pile..
"We'll make dirt with this," Brownell said.
And find ways to make 'left over' food last longer.
"Keeping celery in water keeps them crisper for longer. If you put a paper towel with your lettuce it will keep it from getting slimy," Hoffman added.
Then we know we've done your part to reduce garbage and improve the environment.
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