John Oliver: Food Waste

I think its sad comedians say more meaningful things that most of the "serious" reporters. John Oliver on food waste in America.



1/4 of food goes straight to landfills, in most cases in good condition, from the producers, distributors to consumers, all waste the food just because it does not look good, or for bogus sell by date numbers that are meaningless, there is no real solution to it.

Unless, a new world order remove your freedom to choose and force you to eat what is available, producers are forced to crop just one kind of GMO so there is uniformity to have real meaningful sell by date (it really does not matter, the NWO would feed you the maggot filled stuff anyways) and the economy became a communist system where the producers are forced to give away the product under heavy losses, that's my solution anyways, after all the food waste in the first world is just another evidence of the freedom we enjoy.

FREEDOM!!!!

What is your solution without killing freedom to one of the cancers of capitalism? after all its not just food that is wasted, electronics, clothes, furniture, everything that dont sell well ends in a landfill.

(I like freedom and still i'm not a communist)

a reply to: Indigent

This reminds of the people in NYC who had organized picking up leftovers from corporate banquets to deliver to the poor and homeless.

It was working really well and there were no issues but, they were stomped out of existence by the local power hungry city regulators.

a reply to: greencmp

Unfortunate that the regulators in NYC did that. This may be a really good solution. How about centers for donation?



Also,

Unless, a new world order remove your freedom to choose and force you to eat what is available, producers are forced to crop just one kind of GMO so there is uniformity to have real meaningful sell by date (it really does not matter, the NWO would feed you the maggot filled stuff anyways) and the economy became a communist system where the producers are forced to give away the product under heavy losses, that's my solution anyways, after all the food waste in the first world is just another evidence of the freedom we enjoy.

-OP quote


Issues about the ban what you can throw in the garbage is going on now.
Seattle,

Starting Jan. 1, it will be illegal to throw food and food waste in the trash in Seattle, when a new ban takes effect to increase recycling and composting in the city.

Seattle sends about 100,000 tons of food waste to a landfill per year.

- Source- SeattlePI

This which took effect this month requires residents to have a food & yard waste collection service and people to be given fines for throwing the food in the regular trash. It's a response to the initial planto curb food waste not working.

People are calling it shaming due to the red tag fines placed on the guilty residents cans when caught with food in them as well as violating privacy. Now it's being met with a lawsuit.

A lawsuit filed Thursday accuses Seattle of violating residents’ civil rights by requiring trash collectors to snoop through people’s garbage to check for items such as half-eaten hamburgers and used pizza boxes.

The lawsuit was filed on behalf of eight Seattle residents, including Steve Davies, who said in a statement that, “Seattle’s garbage law promotes government snooping, and that’s not just offensive, it’s a violation of constitutional protections for all Seattle residents.”

Two other cities, San Francisco and Vancouver, have mandatory composting ordinances but not penalties, said KUOW-TV in Seattle.

Source-WTimes

It is good to know about the Emerson Good Samaritan Bill. This is a bill more people should know about, instead of blindly stating that they could be sued for donating food and someone get sick from it.

a reply to: Indigent

There is nothing wrong with throwing away food. Natural cycles usually try and convert food waste to fertilizer.

The issue is that our processing of waste locks it all up in landfill where it serves no useful purpose.

It is the waste processing procedures that are faulty.

Perhaps eco-toxins should be kept separate and garbage handling should go through a composting and liquid waste extraction before the solids are used for landfill? Biologically converted liquid waste could then be sold by the tanker full, to farmers, to add to irrigation.

It is hard to believe we have it so good that we throw away a quarter of the food we produce because we they have to look perfect and the we like the shelves to be jammed full. And that donating food costs to much. That is something government should encourage permanently.

a reply to: Indigent

In many cases, the rules say the food has to be wasted. We wouldn't want to make anyone sick. So yeah, a lot of perfectly good food gets dumped out because regulations say you have to and can't just donate it to a food kitchen that would cook it up on the spot.

Well, if he changes his name to "Jamie", he can open some restaurants, and feed poor school kids with all the left overs.....

I've just been surfing away on the good ole Auntie Beeb website and I came across this article:

www.bbc.co.uk...

Right, yes, it's parsnips, not everyone's cup of tea but, over one parsnip season, 4 million portions of parsnips are going to go to waste. And this world sees malnutrition? It's a busted world, I tell you.

Apologies for bumping an old thread but:

1) I just saw this on the BBC website and
2) I thought this was disgusting enough to warrant a necro post.

originally posted by: Watcher777
It is good to know about the Emerson Good Samaritan Bill. This is a bill more people should know about, instead of blindly stating that they could be sued for donating food and someone get sick from it.

But it does happen.

A local store owner with a deli has to throw away a few burritos and corn dogs every now and then. When he does, he has to pull them out of the paper they are in, as that could also be used in a lawsuit to show he sold it to them.

In the UK a lot of the food waste goes to AD plants (Anerobic Digestion) where it is used to produce gas and electricity.

The remaining liquid waste (in a wet system) is generally used as a 'green' fertiliser by local farmers under waste exemption licences issued by the Environment Agency.

In a dry system typically it is just shredded and composted (depending on the system would have to hit 50-70C over a certain period of time to be declared safe for use) again this is typically spread on local farmers fields under a waste exemption licence from the E.A.

Very similar to the sewage cake that the water authorities spread under licence.

edit to add: Actually it is very good for soil structure and has a fair amount of N,P and K depending on the food waste in question.