If you’ve never heard of the Food Hierarchy before, it is the EPA’s way of creating a system to tackle the problem with food waste once and for all. It shows the different levels that waste happens at, and how we should solve it. It’s in an inverted pyramid structure to depict which solutions are the most preferred to least preferred.Notice that composting is actually one of the last steps the EPA says to take. While it is still a great solution, there are so many more that we as a society need to focus on. The biggest issue is reducing food production, or source reduction, which really starts with stores and restaurants. Ask our local organizations to implement new programs to reduce waste and to enter the EPA’s Food Recovery Challenge.

The next level of the food recovery hierarchy is feeding people who are hungry with the food that we already have. Did you know that even though the U.S. wastes most of their food, a lot of our citizens go hungry. That should not be happening. We have enough food, so people should be able to eat. Luckily, some students have come up with a great model for reducing food waste and donating excess to local food banks. Their non-profit, The Food Recovery Network, is a great model that could be replicated in other businesses. 

After that, the solution is to feed animals with excess food scraps. The US consumes a lot of meat every year. Those animals need feeding first. Time, money, and waste can be saved by giving the animals food scraps to eat. St. Paul, Minnesota public schools ended up saving food waste and saving enough money to hire three full time teachers when they started a food scrap collection in 2005 to give to Barthold Pig Farm. 

Then we get to industrial uses, which includes breaking down food waste anaerobically to create biogas to be used to power engines, run vehicles, and supply homes with natural gas. 

The second to last option is composting, or feeding the soil, and it is actually pretty low on the list. It’s still a great option, and we’ve already told you why that is the case. But the truth is we only need to produce so much compost, and if we don’t work on the aforementioned ways to use up food, we could just end up with an overabundance which, while not super harmful, isn’t super helpful. 

Most of these options seem to focus on the systemic ways to reduce food waste, which is a very important aspect. But what do we do as individuals? Check back here next week on the blog to find out more!