Food Waste

a tarp on an outdoor table filled with unopened canned goods, bags of food, pasta, flour and other food that was found in the trash

Can the Government Help Americans Waste Less Food?

October 16, 2024

The USDA and the EPA are funding campaigns to cut at-home food waste, but a trash bin full of challenges remains.

‘Invisible’ Waste: For Restaurants, Composting Food Scraps Is Just the Beginning

October 15, 2024

Can New York City Treat Its Food Scraps As More Than Trash?

By Doug Bierend

July 15, 2024

Garbage bags full of waste, including compostable waste, pile up on the streets of new york city.

Zero-Waste Grocery Stores in Growth Mode as Consumers Seek to Ditch Plastic

By Christina Cooke

June 10, 2024

Inside a re_ grocery store in the Mar Vista neighborhood of Los Angeles. (Photo courtesy of re_grocery)

Can AI Help Cut Plastic Waste From the Food System?

June 3, 2024

Restaurants Create a Mound of Plastic Waste. Some Are Working to Fix That.

May 28, 2024

Getting Schooled on Preserving and Storing Food With Civic Kitchen

By The Civil Eats Editors

May 20, 2024

Pantry of spices in a commercial kitchen at a restaurant

Mayor Eric Adams Scrapped NYC’s Compost Project. Here’s What Will Be Lost.

By Angelica Ang

May 14, 2024

Hands holding compost in new york city. (Photo credit: Angelica Ang)

Nik Sharma Offers His Top Tips for Home Cooks to Fight Recipe Fatigue

By Matthew Wheeland

May 13, 2024

Nik Sharma baking at left, and tossing a chickpea dish at right. (Photo credit: Nik Sharma)

Should Bioplastics Be Allowed in Organic Compost?

April 29, 2024

A curbside green waste bin in San Francisco, California, collects compostable plates and packaging for use in organic compost. (Photo by Justin Sullivan/Getty Images)

Global Leaders Bypass Real Agriculture Reform Again at COP28 Climate Summit

December 12, 2023

Participants at the UN COP28 Climate Summit during a session on farmers and traditional producers. (Photo CC-licensed by the UNFCCC)

This Car-Free Michigan Island Is Leading on Composting

By Paige Hodder

October 23, 2023

Mackinac DPW sells green compost bags at a cheaper rate than the black bags for trash. (Photo credit: Paige Hodder)

Supermarket Food Waste Is a Big Problem. Are Strategic Price Cuts the Solution?

By Katie Rodriguez

September 11, 2023

avocados are on sale to prevent food waste using dynamic pricing at a supermarket

These Manure Digesters Incorporate Food Scraps. Does That Make Them Better?

August 28, 2023

A view of Longview farm. The tank in the foreground stores the fertilizer produced by the co-digester. (Photo credit: Meg Wilcox)

Our Summer 2023 Food and Farming Book Guide

By The Civil Eats Editors

June 21, 2023

Tamar Adler Teaches Home Cooks to Turn Food Waste Into Dinner

By Hannah Wallace

June 6, 2023

Author Tamar Adler and the cover of her new book, The Everlasting Meal Cookbook, about reducing food waste while cooking delicious food. (Author photo credit: Aaron Stern)

Can This Chicken Company Solve America’s Food Waste Problem?

November 30, 2022

a freshly roasted chicken from do good foods, in theory

This Group Has Rerouted 250 Million Pounds of Food From Landfills to Feed People in Need

By Lindsey Margaret Allen

August 17, 2022

Felipe Maldonado, a Wholesale Recovery Program Driver with Food Forward, loads a pallet of recovered food at the Los Angeles Wholesale Produce Market. (Photo credit: Vanessa Bly)

The Field Report: In DC, Lawmakers Push ‘Common Sense’ Food Waste Solution

July 13, 2022

Food donations are piled up on a table in the wake of a natural disaster.

A New California Law Will Create a Lot More Compost—but Will it Make it to Farmland?

By Gosia Wozniacka

March 2, 2022

A pile of compost in the farm field at Shone Farm, a teaching farm at Sonoma State University in California. (Photo by Emma K. Morris)

Stopping Food Waste Before It Starts Is Key to Reaching Climate Goals

January 5, 2022

tray full of finished paper dinner plates at a local seafood shack

How I Changed My Relationship to Grocery Shopping—and My Financial Future

By Gosia Wozniacka

November 30, 2021

Shopping at the Birch Community Services co-op in Portland, Oregon. (Photo by Gosia Wozniacka)

A Huge New Chicken CAFO in West Virginia Has Stoked Community Resistance

April 7, 2021

inside a large chicken barn or cafo

As Food Scrap Collection Peaks, NYC Community Compost Sites Face Evictions

March 3, 2021

Food scraps at the Lower East Side Ecology Center's compost yard.

The New York Farmers Responding to Food Insecurity

December 8, 2020

The Messmer family: from left Dave, Pete, Suzanne, and Steve.. Dave said “The pandemic made people realize the inherent weaknesses of the supply chain, and they're going to continue to see the threats: the wildfires, the droughts, all these things that that could cause disruption,” He continued, “The answer is buying local. If you just keep buying local, you don't have to worry about shipping, trucking, all that stuff. You're supporting your local farms who can basically survive more sustainably.”