By: Katie Tich, LEED Green Associate

There are lots of tips and tricks for promoting sustainability and decreasing your carbon footprint from the comfort of your own home. Replacing incandescent light bulbs with LEDs? Check. Turning the thermostat up a few degrees in the summer and down a few degrees in the winter? Check. Fixing leaky faucets and turning off water when it’s not in use? Check. But it’s easy to forget another very simple way we can all live more sustainably in our daily lives – and it starts with opening your pantry.

Did you know?

Did you know that so much food is wasted every day around the globe that just one-quarter of it could feed every malnourished person in the entire world? Just in America, the average family wastes nearly $2,000 worth of food every year. The loss of this much food is catastrophic – besides the negative implications for social and economic sustainability, wasted food also contributes 8% to the world’s annual greenhouse gas emissions.[1]

What can you do?

So how can we as individuals help cut down on all this food waste? Here are a few easy tips you can implement in your daily life to maximize what you get out of your food and save money, carbon emissions, and even lives:

• Cook up your leftovers! Compass Group PLC, a foodservice company, put out a list of creative recipes for using leftovers and unusual foods you might not find usable at first glance. There’s even a recipe that uses banana peels! Check out this website to see how you can make more creative veggie dishes, try fun and out-of-the-box recipes with your kids, and more.

• Make a pledge! Here are ways you can make a difference by pledging to reduce your own food waste and/or posting to social media.

• Educate yourself and your community! Learn more about food waste and its impact on the environment here.

[1] https://www.stopfoodwasteday.com/en/index.html