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<\/a>Every year, Americans waste about 120 billion pounds of food, and about half of that waste happens at home. The average family of four spends about $1500 a year on food that doesn\u2019t get eaten!\n<\/span><\/p>\n
Production of all that uneaten food consumes precious resources and contributes to global warming. <\/span>When food is wasted, the land, water, energy, and other inputs that are used to produce, process, transport, prepare, and store the food are also wasted.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n It’s not hard to do better! Here are some easy ways to cut your own food waste — and please remember to support the local “food heroes”<\/a> who are getting food to those in need.<\/p>\n Take a look! The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has created short animated videos<\/a> that can help you take action to reduce food waste.<\/p>\n Understand Best by\/Use by\/Sell by dates.<\/strong><\/p>\n A major cause of food waste is confusion over these date labels. They are used by manufacturers to measure the quality of their product and are not a measure of food safety. For more information go to the FDA’s animated video on Understanding Date Labels on Food Packages.<\/a>\u00a0 See also: www.stilltasty.com\/articles\/view\/5<\/a><\/p>\n Before you leave home to shop:\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n At the store:<\/strong><\/p>\n Food handling at home:<\/strong><\/p>\n Unavoidable waste — Use it well! Some waste is unavoidable, but it is a resource that can be used to create rich compost, or even electricity! For food that is beyond rescue, consider home <\/span>composting<\/span><\/a> and\/or utilizing Needham’s food scrap collection<\/a> at the RTS.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n <\/p>\n Resources<\/strong><\/p>\n\n
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