6 High-Tech Innovations That Could Solve Our Food-Waste Woes

Americans can be a wasteful bunch. In 2014, the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Economic Research Service estimates that our country threw away 38 million tons of food, the equivalent of every person in the country junking two-thirds of a pound every day. We dumped milk that had spoiled, vegetables that had turned brown and hamburger patties we were too full to eat. Not only did this excess cost us a collective $161 billion, it caused unnecessary environmental strain. Food waste, after all, is the most common material in landfills and incinerators, constituting 21.6 percent of all solid waste, according to the U.S.D.A. To fix the problem, there are some easy strategies each household should adopt (hint: buy less, freeze more, compost). But there are also some high-tech innovations that could revamp the entire food supply. Below, the most promising efforts at reducing waste, from the time food is first harvested all the way to its final destination in a Dumpster.

1. Diverting Unwanted Food

Because of the government’s health and safety regulations, supply counts or simply cosmetic issues, a warehouse manager might reject a food shipment before it even makes it to the retail stand. The app Food Cowboy redirects this ugly or unwanted surplus to food banks. A truck driver simply programs her route into the mobile app, along with what’s on offer, like a pallet of bruised bananas or knobby carrots. By the time she’s ready to hit the road, the driver might receive a message from a charity who will meet her at a rest stop to take the produce. The soup kitchen gets their week’s supply of produce, and the distributor can take a tax deduction for the donation: a win-win.

Recipients at a food bank in New York City pack up their groceries.

2. Rethinking Plastic Packaging

Beyond the tons of food that Americans discard, there’s also the problem of all the packaging in which it’s wrapped: the egg cartons, salsa jars and snack wrappers, not to mention shopping bags. Scientists at the U.S.D.A. are trying to replace the ubiquitous plastic in grocery aisles with a mixture of casein, an edible milk protein, and pectin, a citrus extract often used to thicken jams. As long as it’s kept dry, the biodegradable film is actually 250 times better than plastic at blocking oxygen, which helps prevent food from going stale. And, because it’s edible, a consumer could plunk the whole package into water for an extra protein boost. “Everything is in smaller and smaller packaging, which is great for grabbing for lunch [or] for school, but then it generates so much waste,” Laetitia Bonnaillie, a U.S.D.A. researcher who co-led the research, tells Bloomberg. “Edible packaging can be great for that.”

3. Looking Beyond the Sell-By Date

We tend to throw out massive quantities of food because it spoils before we can eat it. Or, more accurately, because we worry that it has. Often, though, food is perfectly safe to eat after the sell-by date, but a home cook won’t want to take the risk of poisoning his family. The FoodKeeper App, a collaboration by the U.S.D.A.’s Food Safety and Inspection Service and Cornell University, provides guidelines online about whether an ingredient has spoiled and how long it can be kept in a pantry, refrigerator or freezer. So far, the database contains over 400 different food and beverage items.

If that’s not technical enough to determine whether food’s still safe to eat, M.I.T. scientists have another device: chemically actuated resonant devices (or more simply, CARDs), which can tell if food has gone bad by the gases it releases. “The beauty of these sensors is that they are really cheap. You put them up, they sit there, and then you come around and read them [with a smartphone]. There’s no wiring involved. There’s no power,” says Timothy Swager, the chemistry professor whose lab built gas-detecting sensors. Pretty soon, this “smart packaging” could do a more reliable job than the old trick of taking a whiff.

Many Americans toss out produce because it’s browning or otherwise looks unsavory, even when it’s still safe to eat.

4. Bypassing the Landfill

Only 5.1 percent of the food Americans currently trash is diverted; the rest ends up in the dump. Over time, this refuse releases clouds of pollutants into the atmosphere: either smoky emissions as it burns in an incinerator or methane, a gas that’s 28 times more dangerous for global warming than carbon dioxide, as it decomposes in a landfill. To reduce the burden on dumps, a device known as the Eco-Safe Digester, produced by BioHiTech for commercial kitchens like The Cheesecake Factory and those inside Marriott hotels, can divert up to 2,500 pounds of waste elsewhere daily. Liquefied by hungry microorganisms, a sloshing smoothie of leftovers goes down the drain, reducing the burden on dumps. That is, as long as the municipal sewers can handle the extra wastewater.

5. Cutting Back in Commercial Kitchens

As chefs rush to meet diners’ demands, some waste is expected. For many restaurants and dining halls, the thinking goes that it’s better to have a surplus of entrées ready than to run out halfway through dinner. But what if these establishments are consistently overdoing it? LeanPath, an Oregon-based software company, analyzes what’s being trashed in commercial kitchens and creates actionable steps for managers, cooks and servers to reduce waste. “Our business is about culture and shaping behavior,” Andrew Shakman, the co-founder, tells Bloomberg. “It’s not rocket science to figure out how to make less mashed potatoes. It is hard to identify that it’s mashed potatoes [that are overproduced] and to change behavior.” After staff has inputted a night’s worth of waste, the algorithm might recommend eliminating the rhubarb no one ever orders, peeling less skin off the potatoes or adding one less bread roll in the basket. By following its advice, LeanPath estimates it can save up to 6 percent of a kitchen’s food costs.

Food scraps from The Slanted Door restaurant in San Francisco make their way to the compost bin.

6. Designing a Smarter Dumpster

Of course, some food will always make its way to the rubbish heap. And when it does, we might as well have garbage trucks pick it up in the most efficient way possible. Compology, a San Francisco waste-management startup, installs sensors on dumpsters to gauge volume. As the bins fill to capacity, an algorithm plans drivers’ most efficient route, eliminating the stop-and-go emissions from weekly garbage collection. The more infrequent pickups can also save haulers tons of cash, up to 40 percent of collection costs, according to the co-founders’ reports from Santa Cruz, Calif., where sensors already been installed.
Continue reading “6 High-Tech Innovations That Could Solve Our Food-Waste Woes”

The Power of Video Games to Heal America’s Heroes, A Surefire Way to Keep Students in School and More


How Games Are Helping Veterans Recover from Injury, Polygon
U.S. Army Major Erik Johnson discovered the healing power of video games firsthand while recovering from a horrible car accident. Today, the occupational therapist serves as Chief Medical Officer for Operation Supply Drop, a nonprofit that taps the therapeutic benefits of technology to help veterans and active service members recover from physical injuries, mental struggles, memory and cognitive problems and more. Sure, it’s unconventional to put a Nintendo Wii controller in a soldier’s hand during therapy, but the results are undeniable: reestablishing “themselves as an able body person who can enjoy things they used to enjoy.”
What Can Stop Kids From Dropping Out? New York Times
The massive amount of outstanding student loan debt might not be the biggest problem when it comes to higher education. What is? The fact that almost half of college freshmen fail to earn a bachelor’s degree within six years. Dropout rates are highest amongst minorities, first-generation undergrads and low-income individuals, but through advisory sessions at the first sign of trouble, classes that offer immediate feedback, tiny grants of just a few hundred dollars and more, George State University is helping these traditionally poor-performing students achieve higher graduation rates than their white peers.
The Bag Bill, The New Yorker
A self-described child of hippie parents, Jennie Romer fondly recalls visiting the local recycling facility with her parents. The weekly trips clearly had an impact on Romer, who’s spent much of her adulthood fighting for plastic bag bans. Success has been plentiful in California, with San Francisco, San Jose and Los Angeles all passing ordinances against the notorious environmental menace. Now Romer has her sights set on implementing a fee on plastic bags in the country’s largest metropolis. Will she add the Big Apple to her list of triumphs?
Editors’ note: Since the publication of the New Yorker article, the New York City Council has approved a 5-cent fee on plastic bags. 
MORE: The High-Energy Activity That’s Healing the Invisible Scars of War

6 Common Environmental Culprits That Need Regulation

There’s been a lot of buzz lately about California being the first state to ban plastic bags (even though Hawaii arguably deserves the title). This news is undoubtedly fantastic, but it’s really just a small victory in light of much larger environmental problems.
Adam Minter writes on Bloomberg View that the ban — now awaiting Gov. Jerry Brown’s signature — is much more symbolic than real: “Gestures such as these can be important in inspiring broader, more meaningful environmental reform. But they risk fueling a self-congratulatory complacency that distracts from more serious challenges.”
He’s got a point. As Minter says, the 3.4 million tons of plastic bags, sacks and wraps thrown out in 2012 is just 10 percent of the 31.8 million tons of total plastics thrown away, or a mere 1.3 percent of the 251 million tons of solid waste generated annually.
ALSO: Can I Recycle This? 5 Things You Should Always Recycle (and 5 Things You Shouldn’t)
Plastic bags are just a start. Here are six other big, wasteful household items that deserve our attention, and more importantly, what can be done about them.
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Will Chicago Be the Next City to Outlaw Plastic Bags?

Is Chicago the next San Francisco? Alderman Joe “Proco” Moreno, sponsor of a proposal that would prohibit retailers from handing out plastic bags, thinks so.
He says that the city council has the 26 required votes to rid the Windy City of this common pollutant. “I’m very confident we have the votes,” Moreno told the Chicago Sun-Times. “We’ve been kicking this around for years. I’m not a very patient guy, but I’ve been patient on this. It’s time to move.”
Last year, Mayor Rahm Emanuel derailed a previous version of the bill, which would have forbidden retailers with more than 5,000 square feet of floor space from supplying customers with plastic bags. The new bill, co-sponsored by Ald. Chairman George Cardenas, is even stricter — it includes the small vendors who were originally excluded from the ordinance. “We were letting smaller stores off the hook,” Moreno said. “But some aldermen were concerned. They said, ‘All I have is small stores in my ward. If you don’t cover them, my ward is still gonna look like crap with bags all over the place.’”
MORE: Now Banned in Hawaii: Plastic Bags
To support these smaller businesses during the transition of turning Chicago into a plastic-bag free zone, Cardenas says that the council is considering up to a three-year exemption period to allow them to get acclimated. As for the Mayor’s office, while Emanuel himself has yet to respond, his office has released a statement saying, “We have not yet reviewed this proposed ordinance, but share Ald. Moreno’s commitment to ensuring a cleaner Chicago. We look forward to seeing a final ordinance after the alderman works with his colleagues, community leaders and the business community.”
Meanwhile, the Illinois Retail Merchants Association claimed that the plastic bag ban would effectively levy a “tax on retailers,” since paper bags cost three times as much. The group’s vice president, Tanya Triche, says that in order for the ban to work, the city council would have to allow a 10-cent tax on paper bags, as well, which would persuade shoppers to bring their own bags. Without it, they would risk losing jobs in the industry. But for Cardenas, a 10-cent charge isn’t an option. “That’s a tax. I don’t want to tax anything right now,” he said.
MORE: These Women Are Doing Something Amazing With Simple Plastic Bags
Moreno estimates that 3.7 million plastic bags are used citywide daily — 3 to 5 percent of which become litter. These bags not only are present on streets and in trees and parks, but also get stuck in drains, causing flooding, clog landfills, jam recycling plants, and harm animals. Los Angeles and San Francisco have both banned plastic bags, and the state of California is currently pushing for a statewide ban. In December, Hawaii became the first U.S. state to ban the bag, but judging by how much the idea is growing in popularity — and considering that nearly 100 billion plastic bags are used in the U.S. every year — we’re guessing it won’t be the last.
ALSO: What Would a City With No Plastic Bags Look Like?

This Craft Project Not Only Helps the Homeless, but Reduces Landfill Waste, Too

Finally, someone has come up with a brilliant idea that answers the age-old question: What to do with all those old, plastic grocery bags stuffed in your kitchen drawer?
Groups across the country are banding together to crochet tens of thousands of plastic bags into portable, lightweight, and water-resistant mats that provide an extra layer of protection between homeless individuals and the cold, hard ground. And you can do the same.
MORE: These Researchers Want to Put Plastic Bags in Your Gas Tank
Two years ago, 25-year-old Chad Dominguez and his mother, Kris Georgeson saw someone weaving together these “plarn” — plastic yarn — mats while on a trip to Seal Beach, California. They thought it was a great idea, and so they introduced the project, Mats 4 Homeless, at the Upland Host Lions Club in Upland, California. The group wove 25 mats and donated them to a homeless shelter. In return, they received a group of pictures of individuals with their new mats.
“When I went through those pictures and saw one of an 8-year-old hugging so tight onto that mat, I just started to cry,” Georgeson told The Inland Daily Bulletin. From there, the project continued to grow, even moving to other club chapters.
For Sandy Watts, a 63-year-old retired elementary school teacher and Upland resident, the ground mats are a way to help the homeless while preventing some of the 100 billion plastic bags that are used in the U.S. each year from ending up in the landfill. Although it takes her about 1,200 bags and 10 hours to make one 36-by-72-inch mat, she has already made 11 of them since learning the craft in June. “And nothing is wasted,” she said. “Cut scraps are used to stuff the coordinating pillows.”
ALSO: These Women Are Doing Something Amazing With Simple Plastic Bags
Meanwhile, in Norwalk, Iowa, the Mighty Mat Makers meet once a week at St. John the Apostle Catholic Church to create their own mats, using about 700 plastic bags apiece. So far, they have spent at least 100 hours on the project, producing 18 mats that have been handed out to the homeless, and there are many more to come. “A lot of care and a lot of love are going into these,” one of the Mat Makers, Vickie Clingan, told KCCI News. “We care about the people who we’re making these for.”
Even if you have no experience with crocheting, anyone can learn how to make these plarn mats. Just follow the instructions in the video below and start your own crocheting group in your community. Just think of all the bags you can save, while also providing a small comfort to people in need.

These Researchers Want to Put Plastic Bags in Your Gas Tank

You see them all over your house, in landfills and in the ocean. But have you ever thought of putting a plastic bag in your gas tank?
As UPI reports, scientists at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign have turned our man-made waste into something useful: fuel. And it’s not just diesel, these shopping bags were also converted into other products such as natural gas, solvents, gasoline, waxes and lubricating oils, the researchers said.
MORE: These Women Are Doing Something Amazing With Simple Plastic Bags
What’s great about this conversion process is that it produces more energy than it consumes. “You can get only 50 to 55 percent fuel from the distillation of petroleum crude oil,” said lead researcher Brajendra Kumar Sharma. “But since this plastic is made from petroleum in the first place, we can recover almost 80 percent fuel from it through distillation.” Recycling plastic bags for fuel sounds like a win-win for your budget and for the environment.
 

Now Banned in Hawaii: Plastic Bags

We’ve heard of city-wide plastic bag bans, but a whole state? Now that takes chutzpah. As LiveScience reports, Hawaii is the first state in the whole country to ban the use of plastic bags, which means residents now have the minor inconvenience of bringing their own reusable bags, or using paper bags, at stores or restaurants. Plastic bags for bulk items such as meat, grains and produce will still be available.
It’s a small price to pay when you stack it up against the environmental cost of using plastic. When plastic bags aren’t taking up space underneath the kitchen sink, they’re discarded and end up surfacing in tree branches, polluting landfills and oceans, and being eaten by unsuspecting animals. Not only are plastic bags a menace to the planet, but their production also sucks up resources: It takes 12 million barrels of oil to manufacture the 102 billion plastic bags that Americans use annually, according to the United Nations.
MORE: These Women Are Doing Something Amazing With Simple Plastic Bags
As Robert Harris, director of the Sierra Club’s Hawaii chapter, told the Huffington Post: “Being a marine state, perhaps, we are exposed more directly to the impacts of plastic pollution and the damage it does to our environment.” With Hawaii leading the charge against plastic bags, hopefully other states will soon take notice.

These Women Are Doing Something Amazing With Simple Plastic Bags

Plastic bags are getting banned from cities left and right, but a group of women from Grand Rapids, Mich., are putting these environmental menaces to good use — to help disaster relief in Haiti. As Fox17 reports, the Michigan women regularly meet at their local YMCA to create plastic yarn that they weave into mats that people in Haiti can use to work, sit or sleep on.
MORE: How a Non-Profit Solved One of New York City’s Peskiest Pollution Problems
Haiti is still in recovery four years after a devastating 7.0 magnitude earthquake struck Port-au-Prince. Three million people were affected by the quake and many still do not have a roof over their heads. Every little bit of aid helps, and as group member Judy Major told FOX17, the effort takes zero money — all it takes is time. “The whole idea,” she said, “is to take our man-made resource that we see as waste and turn it into something useful to somebody else to make their lives better.”
RELATED: Utah is on Track to End Homelessness by 2015 with this One Simple Idea

What Would a City with No Plastic Bags Look Like?

On January 1, big stores in Los Angeles will no longer offer shoppers plastic bags at all, making it the biggest U.S. city to ban plastic bags. The law will help reduce pollution and encourage the use of reusable totes. And to help Angelinos get used to the idea, city officials have cooked up a plan to give out free reuseable bags. What I love about this LA Times story is how the city “teamed up with environmental and charity groups that work with veterans and former gang members to produce a line of bags made from recycled or repurposed materials.” This kind of city-civic partnership is a great example of bringing every one who cares about an issue to the table and coming up with solutions that offer something to everyone.