Wasted Food Prevention

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Today, the United States spends over $218 billion – 1.3% of GDP – growing, processing, transporting, and disposing of food that is never eaten.

Each year, 52.4 million tons of food is sent to landfill, and an additional 10.1 million tons remains unharvested at farms, totaling roughly 63 million tons of annual waste. In Lane County alone, 45,987 tons gets sent to landfills and has the largest potential to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.

Don't Let Good Food Go Bad!

TOOLS TO SAVE YOUR FOOD AND MONEY!

More and more families are finding simple ways to enjoy all the food they bring home. When you plan meals, store food for long-lasting freshness, and use up leftovers, you're saving your family $2,900 or more a year.

Uneaten food costs us more than just our money. It squanders water, fuel, labor, and the love put into making food. The good news is, thereʼs something we can do.

By making small shifts in how we shop, prepare and store our food, we waste less, save money and conserve valuable resources. By eating everything we buy, each of us helps protect up to 25% of the U.S. freshwater that would otherwise go to waste — small actions that add up to big impact.

SHOP WITH MEALS IN MIND

TIP: Use the shopping pad to make a list with meals in mind and buy no more than what you expect to use. Try keeping a running list of meals your household enjoys, shopping on a full stomach and avoiding two-for-one deals so you don't buy more than you will use.

* English (download)

* Almacenaje de Alimentos Adecuado (descargar)

PREP NOW AND EAT LATER

Preparing ingredients ahead of time can make it easier to create meals later in the week as well as save time, effort and money.

TIP: Label your prepped items as a reminder to use them up in time. Try cooking several meals at once then store them in the freezer for a later date.

KEEP IT FRESH LONGER

Help your food stay fresher, taste better and last longer by storing it in the right place.

TIPS
• Find helpful hints on how to store Oregon favorites to last. dontletgoodfoodgobad.org/resources
• Use the “Fruit and Vegetable Storage Guide” for helpful hints on storing your Storage Magnet

produce.
• Get to know what the labels best by, use by, sell by, enjoy by and best before really mean and stop throwing away food too soon.

* English (download)

* Guía para almacenar y mantener frescas las frutas y verduras (descargar)

EAT WHAT YOU BUY

Use up your leftovers and the ingredients you have on hand before buying more.

TIP: Create a space in the fridge to store leftovers and use a sticker or tape to label with the date as a reminder for your household. Use the Spoilage Chart as a reminder of what spoils the fastest vs. lasts longer.

Get more resources at: DontLetGoodFoodGoBad.org

Residents

Wasted food for residents

Want to do more to reduce food waste? Visit WasteWise Lane County's Eat Smart Waste Less site to sign up for tips on reducing food waste and saving money!

Composting is easy & impactful
Want to compost? Residents of Eugene, Springfield and Veneta can add food waste to their yard waste bins!

Are you afraid compost is too stinky? Or maybe you don't want vermin digging into your leftovers in your yard waste bin? Or you just don't think you have enough space on your counter? Check out these great ideas to address these common barriers.

If you are seeking ways to address the climate crisis and save landfill space, composting is among the most effective and easy things you can do starting today.

Businesses & Organizations

Wasted food for businesses

Food service businesses can take simple but effective steps to reduce food waste and improve the bottom line.

We’re here to help!

We provide hands-on assistance and learn about your business so we can get you just the information you need. Give us a call at 541-682-4339, send us an email.

Food service businesses can take simple but effective steps to reduce food waste and improve the bottom line.

The Oregon Department of Environmental Quality’s “Wasted Food Wasted Money” campaign provides resources and information that can help food service businesses take meaningful steps to reduce their food waste and save money.

Hotel Kitchen also provides a toolkit to help employees of food service businesses reduce waste at various stages in the preparation and serving of food.

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency also provides tools to help businesses prevent and divert wasted food. These tools include guides for assessing and analyzing where food waste occurs, calculators for measuring the cost competitiveness of alternatives to food waste disposal, training webinars and other resources.

Wasted Food Prevention Resources

Download the above image as a PDF to access the links.

Hear from your peers: Read how eight different restaurants, bakeries and breweries have found ways to minimize food waste through tracking, transforming trim into new ingredients, and educating customers.

Food Waste & Rescue Potential in Lane County

Lane County Waste Management applied to become a Food Matters partner with the Natural Resource Defense Council (NRDC). NRDC helped the county to model food waste generated by sector in the City of Eugene, the City of Springfield, and across the whole county.

Composting Food for Businesses

Help keep food scraps out of garbage, protect the environment, and put food scraps to better use creating compost and energy.

Compost

While there is much that can be done to prevent food waste through careful planning, purchasing, and preparation, there are always food scraps that cannot be prevented but have better uses than being tossed into the garbage.

Each year Lane County throws away 91 million pounds of food waste. Eugene and Springfield businesses can do their part to make sure food scraps get composted.

Visit Love Food Not Waste to learn more, or visit Sanipac's new commercial compost program.

NOTICE: Read nine reasons why Oregon-based composting facilities Do NOT want "compostable" packaging and serviceware in food waste. Learn how these materials are compromising the health of compost and reducing the environmental benefits of creating nutrient-rich, quality product.

Donating Food for Businesses

Join the many area grocers, restaurants, caterers and food service companies that are helping people who experience hunger.

• A simple guide to saving your business money by reducing food waste

• Una guía simple para ahorrar dinero en su negocio mediante la reducción de desechos de alimentos

While steps can be taken to plan and prepare food carefully, sometimes leftovers and unused ingredients are inevitable. Food banks, pantries and meal sites can take some donations.

- To donate food to Food for Lane County, email here.

- To donate food to Burrito Brigade, email here.

- To donate to The Eugene Mission, click here.

Free Community Compost Program

Lane County Waste Management has been awarded a USDA grant to support the distribution of FREE food-waste compost to the community. The free Community Compost program aims to serve all Lane County residents and agricultural producers, with a focus on disadvantaged communities. Individuals, businesses, nonprofits, community gardens, churches and schools seeking high-quality compost can reach out to Lane County for free compost.

It will provide up to 5,000 tons of free compost to Lane County residents and agricultural producers and host four Free Compost Day events each year (8 events total).

Food-waste compost can be used as an alternative top dress for flower and planting beds, a seed cover for new lawns, and natural soil amendment for newly planted gardens. Use compost for preparing soil in flower beds, vegetable gardens, and landscaping areas for planting. Learn more at the Community Compost program page.

* Food-waste compost contains trace amounts of plastics, but always below the maximum allowable standard set by the US Composting Council.

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