“About 30 percent of the food people bring into their homes never gets eaten,” said Brian Law, Fred N. Van Buren professor of farm management at Ohio State University. Credit: DML/Star Tribune (via TNS) [Original caption: To meet its goals for a zero waste future, Hennepin County wants more residents to compost food scraps and other organic waste. However, county officials recently decided to abandon a plan to build an anaerobic digester near the Brooklyn Park Transfer Center where garbage is recycled or sent to disposal sites.]
Brian Law, Fred N. Van Buren Professor of Farm Management at Ohio State University, will manage the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s (USDA) $2.5 million consumer pilot campaign focused on reducing food waste in American households.
Ohio State will partner with Rutgers to implement consumer-focused waste-reduction and education campaigns in three yet-to-be-determined U.S. cities, Lo said. Another arm of the project will be led by Rutgers, which will create a “community of practice” where outreach workers, public service workers and others can launch food waste reduction programs, with advice and materials from the Ohio State and Rutgers teams.
Ohio State and Rutgers will evaluate the success of the three-year pilot campaign, and information gathered there could inform future programs the federal government considers implementing, Law said.
Low said the education campaign will educate consumers on better meal planning, using leftovers, storing food efficiently and raising awareness of date labels on food.
“These materials help consumers reduce the amount of food they throw away, which typically translates into economic savings for households, because about 30 percent of the food people bring into their homes often goes uneaten,” Loh says. “And that can really pose an economic threat.”
Food waste can cause economic problems because people spend money on food that ends up being thrown away, Low said.
“Most households spend over $1,000 a year on food they don’t eat,” Lo says, “so financially, it could have a big impact on a household’s budget. And if a third of food is produced that’s not eaten, it increases the price of food overall.”
Low said food waste also poses problems related to global warming.
“Every step in the food production, transportation and processing supply chain creates emissions,” Lo says, “and if people don’t eat that food, a lot of it ends up in landfills. And once it’s in landfills, it typically produces methane, which is a very fast-acting greenhouse gas that can have a very strong impact on global warming and climate change.”
Amy Andoh, professor and chair of the School of Agricultural, Environmental and Development Economics (also known as AEDE), said in an email that Lo is at the forefront of food waste research.
“Dr. Lo is truly a national leader in research, education and efforts to reduce food waste and the associated pollution streams,” Ando said. “He has conducted groundbreaking research that helps us understand the causes of food waste, including household reactions to food labels.”
The project is set to run for three years, but Lo hopes to complete a pilot campaign within the first two years, allowing the team to inform best practices to the national community of practitioners.
“[Roe] “Brian has worked with students at OSU on food waste initiatives and promoted food waste curriculum for young learners through 4-H,” Ando said. “He has also worked with the USDA and EPA to develop national policies to reduce food loss and waste. Our department, AEDE, works to improve agricultural systems, environmental quality and human well-being, and Brian’s work is a shining example of that mission.”
