Tackling Food Waste

This page focuses on improving the ways that we store food in order to extend its life. This is an important step in reducing food waste - reducing it at its source.

Reducing food waste at this level has multiple benefits. For the individual, this can help reduce grocery bills and time spent grocery shopping. It can also help save money by reducing the cost of trash and composting services. And of course, there are the environmental implications. Reducing the amount of food going to waste also reduces greenhouse gas emissions created in both the production of food and its disposal.

In addition to proper storage and life extension, thinking creatively in the kitchen can also help reduce food waste. For example, many vegetable scraps that you might consider trash can be frozen and used for making stock or soups, or stale bread can be used to make croutons. 

Tools that can help households decrease their food waste: 

Information regarding household food waste, its impacts on the environment, and ways we can reduce food waste in our daily lives:

For more general information, check out VTRecycles & Scrap Food Waste by the VT DEC.