EARTH DAY

April brings us Earth Day. Today, we will examine eating habits that affect our planet and have a direct impact on our health. By adopting sustainable food practices, we can contribute to the planet’s well-being and enhance our health.

Sustainable eating includes consuming food that supports your body and the environment. Agriculture accounts for up to 30% of greenhouse gases associated with human activities. Much of this comes from wasted food. As much as 30-40% of food is wasted in America. In the United States, food is the single largest component of our everyday trash, much of which ends up in landfills, and landfills are one of the largest sources of methane in the US. The Environmental Protection Agency estimates that wasted food is responsible for 58% of landfill methane emissions to the atmosphere.

According to a 2023 survey, Maryland residents waste an average of 9.79 cups of food weekly, making us one of the top food wasters in the country.

Food is wasted when we buy or cook more than we need and when it is improperly stored. When we throw away food, we are wasting not only that food but also all the fuel and water used to produce, package, and transport it. It is costly to our budgets and the earth. Fruits and vegetables are the foods most often thrown out.

How to Reduce Food Waste

• Reduce plate waste – no need to over-fill your plate; you can always return for more.
• Make use of leftovers – when cooking or eating out, pack those leftovers for lunch the next day.
• Compost at home—fruit and vegetable scraps, together with yard wast,e make excellent compost for your garden and reduce waste sent to the landfill. City of Salisbury Home Composting.
• Shop Smart—make a plan that includes what meals you will have at home and how much fresh produce you need before your next shopping trip. This simple step can help you avoid overbuying and reduce food waste. Keep frozen and canned items on hand as backups. EPA Smart Shopping List
• Shop your kitchen before going to the grocery store.
• Store food properly– it’s incredible how much longer foods stay fresh when stored properly. Fruits and vegetables belong in different refrigerator drawers, and some are better stored in the pantry or counter. Check out these references, or stop by C151 for a handout.
  • Produce Storage Cheat Sheet
  • 10 Surprising Foods You Should be Refrigerating
  • Keep It Fresh – food storage how to

• Freeze foods that are approaching their prime—ripe bananas and other fruits can be frozen for smoothies, and leftovers can be frozen for quick weekday lunches or dinners.
• Don’t throw food out before it’s time. Take advantage of the Food Keeper app to determine if a food is safe to eat.

Salisbury University Dining Services Reduces Food Waste

UDS has taken several significant steps to reduce landfill food waste.

Reduced Plate Waste. Commons dining went trayless in 2016. Trayless dining means less food waste because guests cannot carry several plates of food to their table at once. This amounts to a 25-30 percent reduction in plate waste per person. We continue to have an all-you-can-eat venue, and students and guests are invited to return for more food as often as they want.

We Keep Plate Waste Out of the Landfill. Commons Dining got its first ‘digester’ in 2016. In the past year, our ORCA composted 73,000 plus pounds of our customers’ plate waste into water. That is 73,000 pounds of food that did not get trucked to the landfill to produce methane gases as it decomposed.

Efficient water usage: Being trayless means less water and energy usage because you don’t have to wash hundreds of trays at each meal. Additionally, UDS reduces water usage with our highly efficient dish machine, which uses less water and detergent than others in the industry.

More Steps to Reduce Food Waste

Decreasing consumption of ultra-processed foods may also improve environmental sustainability and should be considered for health and environmental protection.

A study published in  2023 concluded that a diet with less ultra-processed foods (UPF) has a smaller environmental footprint than a diet high in UPF. For more on what foods are considered to be ultra-processed, check out this Zest article

An NIH study states that UPF production uses large quantities of land, water, energy, herbicides, and fertilizers, causes environmental degradation from greenhouse gas emissions and the accumulation of packaging waste, and contributes to biodiversity loss.

Here are food-related shifts that benefit the environment and your health.

1. Focus on whole foods – those closest to their original form, to decrease the use of ultra-processed foods.
2. Show some love to that ugly vegetable. Imperfect produce is often rejected by consumers.
3. Buy locally. Locate a farmers’ market near you and enjoy produce that is likely fresher, better tasting, and has more nutrients than store-bought produce that has traveled across the country.
4. Reduce packaging—Reduce the amount of plastic, paper, metal, and energy used to package your groceries. Consider buying in bulk and packing snacks (cheese, pretzels, nuts) in reusable containers.
5. Bring your own bags to the grocery. Reduce plastic waste.
6. Decrease garbage—buy only what you need, use leftovers, compost your food waste, and reduce carbon emissions from landfills.
7. Try your hand at a patio garden of herbs or your favorite vegetables.
8. Balance your plate with ½ covered by vegetables, ¼ grains or starchy vegetables, and ¼ protein. Be sure to have a serving or two of healthy fats. More details here
9. Challenge yourself to try new foods, different ingredients, and new recipes.

Discarding a half-eaten banana or plate of food may seem harmless, but multiply that by 8 billion people worldwide or the 347 million in the USA, and you can easily see the problem. Bringing awareness to our choices and habits will cumulatively have a significant impact on our earth. What seems like a small move—like packing a snack or storing apples in the refrigerator—has a significant impact when others join in. Join UDS in being part of the solution.