Erich Lawson is passionate about saving the environment through effective recycling techniques and modern innovations. He works with Compactor Management Company and writes on a variety of topics related to recycling, including tips and advice on how balers, compactors and shredders can be used to reduce industrial waste. He loves helping businesses understand how to lower their monthly garbage bills and increase revenue from recycling.
Farmer’s markets are a great way to boost local economies and provide people with fresh produce. They are also a great way to promote sustainability and endorse sustainable initiatives. These public and recurring gatherings of farmers directly sell the food they produce to the customers.
Farmer’s markets accelerate mutual bonding and relationships between farmers and the community. By getting a middleman out of the picture, farmers receive more dollars, and buyers get fresh out-of-the-farm foods.
Although these markets are beneficial for both farmers and buyers, huge food waste is seen there. Here are some quick tips for reducing food waste at the farmer’s market:
- Store right
If your product is rotting within a few days, there is a high possibility that you are storing incompatible fruits and veggies together.
Avoid packing foods that give out high levels of ethylene gas together with ethylene-sensitive foods. Ethylene gas is a ripening agent, and it will speed up the decaying process of ethylene-sensitive foods and increase food waste.
- Give the ugly produce some love as well
The heavy influence of cosmetic standards on the market causes food wastage. Most odd-shaped vegetables and fruits do not make it into grocery stores, but you can find these delicious specimens in the farmer’s markets. Creating a demand for these produce will prevent them from going to waste.
- Leftovers are tasty!
Promoting leftovers will cause less food waste. You can teach people to add a tasty twist to the leftovers by tossing them in salads or scrambled eggs. Some curries and soups taste even better on the second day.
Using chicken bones or vegetable scraps to make stock is putting the food waste to good use. By toasting stale bread into croutons, you can add them into your soups or salads and even on top of the rice.
- Reusable dishes
Some farmer’s markets have the rule of requiring hot-food vendors to serve their foods in reusable dishes and silverware. Reusable products reduce non-food wastes.
- Carry reusable bags & totes instead of plastic bags
To reduce the use of single-use plastics, you need to give people alternatives to them. Reusable bags and totes are a great way to reduce the wastage caused by single-use plastic.
Plastic bags take anywhere between 15 to 1,000 years to break down if they make it into a landfill and not into the ocean or floating in your neighborhood. This is damaging to the environment.
Selling your food in reusable bags and totes will encourage more people to use it and reduce plastic-produced pollution.
- Use products & packaging that are recyclable or compostable
Packaging your products in recyclable materials and compostable bags is an excellent way to reduce plastic-causing pollution.
- Use a food composter for the wasted food
Composting is the natural process of decomposition that turns organic materials like garden waste and vegetable scraps into dark, earthy-smelling material called compost. Composts are used to fertilize and improve productivity the soil.
Flipping wasted food into a food composter and turning it into compost will benefit the environment as it is rich in nutrients and is great for your garden, shrubs, and indoor plants.
Bottom Line
In the US, only 5% of the wasted food is composted, making uneaten food one of the largest components of municipal waste. This food gradually breaks down to form methane, a greenhouse gas, which is 86 times more potent than carbon dioxide.
Food waste is also one of the leading causes of freshwater pollution, and it is responsible for over 25% of all freshwater consumption in the US every year.
According to a survey, food production in the US uses 15.7% of the total energy budget, 50% of all land, and 80% of all freshwater. Given all the resources demanded for food production, it is everyone’s responsibility to reduce food waste.
