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Clean your plate

Vegetarian Times, March, 2005

American households waste more than a pound of food every day, a November 2004 study conducted at the University of Arizona has found. All told, nearly 50 percent of America's food is discarded--by families who toss unopened items before their expiration dates; by farmers who inadvertently destroy crops in harvesting and handling them; and by retailers who throw out prepared foods.

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The cost to a family of four comes to about $590 a year, counting only the food that ends up in their own trash bags and garbage disposals. Researcher Timothy Jones, PhD, estimates that reducing all of this waste by half would cut by, 25 percent landfill use, soil depletion and applications of chemical fertilizers, pesticides and herbicides.

Clean your plate

Vegetarian Times, March, 2005

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