Food waste has reached epidemic proportions across the nation. Dumpsters located outside of every supermarket, restaurant, farmer’s market or any other place that sells food is filled with usable food. Sustainable Urban Village (SUV) has a proven plan that will educate the population on ways to reduce (prevent) and re-use (recover, recycle) food waste.
What is food waste? It’s food that could have been eaten but wasn’t for various reasons. Produce that is not ‘pretty’ becomes food waste because no one wants to buy a “Wonky” apple or an oddly shaped tomato. Leftover food from restaurants becomes food waste and excess produce from farms are thrown as there are no buyers for them. Households produce food waste because we buy more fresh food than we can consume before it goes bad.
Making people aware of the food waste problem is a step towards correcting the problem. SUV has an Awareness Center that will help people understand the food waste problem and learn ways to prevent it. Self-Awareness, Community Awareness, and Corporate Awareness are all a part of the program to educate people on all levels of things they can do to prevent food waste from occurring.
Reducing the amount of food, we purchase is one step everyone can take towards preventing food waste. Instead of purchasing 4 bananas and tossing out 1 at the end of the week because it became over-ripe, just buy 3 bananas.
Using the same banana example, when you notice 1 of the bananas is becoming over-ripe, put it in the freezer for future use in a smoothie or banana bread. That’s called ‘re-purposing’ food and it will reduce food waste.
A compost center included in the SUV will convert the manure from the animals on the farm as well as waste from yards, gardens and food using a converter, so it can decompose and be used to improve soil fertility. The compost will enable the soil to produce more food, so the sustainable cycle can continue for everyone living in the Sustainable Urban Village.
SUV has an animal farm included in its plan to reduce food waste. Both good and bad food will be collected from those living in the neighborhood and used to feed the farm animals. What was once wasted food will become food with a purpose and feed livestock. Animals, like chickens, goats, and cows, will be fed with this nutrient-rich food waste and in turn, will provide fresh food like milk for those living in the Sustainable Urban Village.