News about Food Waste & GHG Emissions from the EPA

Issued: Oct 19, 2023 (12:23pm EDT)

EPA Releases New Food Waste Reports

Reports reveal the impacts of food waste on landfill methane emissions and provide updated recommendations for managing food waste.

WASHINGTON (October 19, 2023) –- Today, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency released two new reports quantifying methane emissions from landfilled food waste and updating recommendations for managing wasted food. Over one-third of the food produced in the United States is never eaten, wasting the resources used to produce, transport, process, and distribute it – and much of it is sent to landfills, where it breaks down and generates methane, a powerful greenhouse gas.
“Wasted food is a major environmental, social, and economic challenge,” said EPA Administrator Michael S. Regan. “These reports provide decision-makers with important data on the climate impacts of food waste through landfill methane emissions and highlight the urgent need to keep food out of landfills.”
The reports’ findings emphasize the importance of both reducing the amount of food that is wasted and managing its disposal in more environmentally friendly ways. Based on these findings, EPA is releasing an update to its Food Recovery Hierarchy, a tool to help decision makers, such as state and local governments, understand the best options for managing food waste in terms of environmental impacts. The release of the new ranking – called the Wasted Food Scale – marks the first update since the 1990s, reflecting more recent technological advances and changes in operational practices. EPA’s research confirms that preventing food from being wasted in the first place, or source reduction, is still the most environmentally beneficial approach. Evidence in these reports suggests that efforts should focus on ensuring less food is wasted so that food waste is diverted from landfills, which will reduce environmental impacts.
The research announced today represents the first time EPA has quantified methane emissions from landfilling. This novel work published modeled estimates of annual methane emissions released into the atmosphere from landfilled food waste, giving a cost of landfilling food waste in terms of the impact on climate change. EPA conducted an analysis to estimate annual methane emissions from landfilled food waste from 1990 to 2020 and found that while total emissions from municipal solid waste (MSW) landfills are decreasing, methane emissions from landfilled food waste are increasing. These estimates indicate that diverting food waste from landfills is an effective way to reduce methane emissions, a powerful greenhouse gas, from MSW landfills.
EPA reports being released today include:
• “From Field to Bin: The Environmental Impacts of U.S. Food Waste Management Pathways,” which examines the environmental impacts of disposing of food waste. This report synthesizes the latest science on the environmental impacts of how food waste is commonly managed in the U.S. This report completes the analysis that began in the 2021 companion report, “From Farm to Kitchen: The Environmental Impacts of U.S. Food Waste ,” which analyzed the environmental footprint of food waste in the farm to consumer supply chain.
• “Quantifying Methane Emissions from Landfilled Food Waste” represents the first time EPA has published modeled estimates of annual methane emissions released into the atmosphere from landfilled food waste. More food reaches MSW landfills than any other material, but its contribution to landfill methane emissions has not been previously quantified.
The reports released today will support future EPA efforts to reduce food waste. EPA’s food waste research provides a better understanding of the net environmental footprint of U.S. food waste.
Learn more about EPA’s food waste research and sustainable management of food work:
Food waste research information.
Learn more about what you can do to reduce wasted food in your home:
For further information: EPA Press Office (press@epa.gov)

Green Landscape Technology Virtual Town Hall (Th 7/20)

As a manual reel mower and old-fashioned rake kind of guy, I’m keen to see non-polluting landscaping and yard care technology become a cutting-edge trend. (Get it? I know — lame dad joke.)

It’s not just that the loud noise and choking fumes from these infernal contraptions (mowers, week-whackers, and the worst of the worst, leaf blowers) are annoying if not intolerable, which they are. Consider the startling and sobering fact that gasoline-powered lawn and garden engines (GLGE), along with other non-road engines, account for 5% of GHG emissions in the US, according to the EPA. That 2015 study also noted that:

In 2011, approximately 26.7 million tons of pollutants were emitted by GLGE (VOC=461,800; CO=5,793,200; NOx=68,500, PM10=20,700; CO2=20,382,400), accounting for 24%−45% of all nonroad gasoline emissions. Gasoline-powered landscape maintenance equipment (GLME; leaf blowers/vacuums, and trimmers, edgers, brush cutters) accounted for 43% of VOCs and around 50% of fine PM.

We don’t have to accept this as the status quo, though. Join folks from the Urban Efficiency Group and the Cross Community Climate Collaborative for a virtual town hall this Th 7/20 to hear about green technology for landscape maintenance.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

GLT Virtual Town Hall Flyer 2023-07-20

Earth Week 2023 Action @RooseveltU!

It’s Earth Week 2023 @RooseveltU! Students in the RU Green club and the SUST 210 Sustainable Future course have a whole bunch of cool stuff planned today 4/19 through Fri 4/12. Please attend and spread the word!

Wed 4/19 from 5-6:30pm (WB 1111) — Powerlands film screening: Join RU Green for a viewing of the documentary Powerlands, in which a “young Navajo filmmaker investigates displacement of Indigenous people and devastation of the environment caused by the same chemical companies that have exploited the land where she was born.” A short discussion will follow the film, and snacks will be provided!

 

Th 4/20 from 11am-1pm (WB 5th Floor Fitness Center) — WB Rooftop Garden Clean-up (waiver required; see below). Get some fresh air and your nails dirty by helping to clean up the garden and prepare it for the spring planting season!

Th 4/20 from 11:30am-1pm (WB Dining Center) — Ice Cream Social! Calling all Roosevelt Students! We need your help spreading the word about LakersDay. Come to the LakersDay Ice Cream Social on Thursday, April 20, take a picture in our photo booth, and post to social media using the #rulakersday. You will receive $20 in LakersDay bucks to place in the college fund of your choice.

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Th 4/20 from 12:30-1:45pm (WB 616 / Dining Center) — Students in SUST 210 Sustainable Future are staging two good-old-fashioned environmental happenings as part of the WorldWide Teach-In for Climate & Justice. A team focused on the sustainability in our Dining Center will be staffing an info/outreach table in the caf, while six other teams will present a provocative series of lightning talks on Athletics, Environmental Justice, Food, Transportation, Waste, and Water!

Join us in WB 616 as well as on Zoom for those presentations, and check out these other RU Green-sponsored Earth Week activities and events. Zoom link: https://roosevelt.zoom.us/j/92892253109

RU Student Waivers are required for all participants in the Th Rooftop Garden clean-up and the Eden Place community service field trip.

  • Please return a signed pdf version to Prof. Mike Bryson (mbryson@roosevelt.edu) and to RU Green president Natalie Seitz (nseitz@mail.roosevelt.edu).
  • Waiver document: ru-green-travel-waiver-forms-2023april (pdf)

For more info, email Prof. Mike Bryson (mbryson@roosevelt.edu), SUST 210 Instructor and Dedicated Composter, and/or Natalie Seitz (nseitz@mail.roosevelt.edu), RU Green president. Keep using those green bins for your banana peels!

Don’t Go Without Water this Week: See “Without Water . . .” on Tue 4/11 @RooseveltU

Next Tuesday 4/11 as part of the 2023 Roosevelt Student Research and Inquiry Symposium as well as the WorldWide Teach-In for Climate and Justice, CCPA Acting and SUST 360 Honors students will collaborate on an interdisciplinary arts + humanities event combining performance and critical discussion.

Please join us at 2pm CST in the Fainman Lounge in RU’s historic Auditorium Building for an encore performance of the original devised play, “Without Water,” conceived and written by the first-year BFA Acting Class of 2026 and directed by Prof. Elise Kauzlaric in the CCPA’s Theatre Conservatory. The performance will be bracketed by commentary on the role of water in the urban environment by students in Prof. Mike Bryson’s SUST 360 Writing Urban Nature honors seminar, followed by an interactive discussion among the two groups of students and the audience.

This is the first-ever creative collaboration between the CCPA Theatre Conservatory and the Sustainability Studies Program of the College of Arts & Sciences at Roosevelt University in Chicago. The event also is part of the annual week-long scholarly and creative extravaganza known as the Roosevelt Student Research and Inquiry Symposium as well as the WorldWide Teach-In for Climate and Justice and RU’s Earth Month 2023 programming. Hope to see you there!

The cast of “Without Water” (BFA Acting Class of 2025, CCPA)

SUST 360 Honors students hiking at Northerly Island, March 2023

Questions or to RSVP:
Contact Prof. Mike Bryson (mbryson@roosevelt.edu)
Dept. of Sociology & Sustainability / College of Arts & Sciences

How Arts & Humanities are Tackling the Climate Crisis

Mike Bryson, Professor of Sustainability Studies at Roosevelt University, joins Green Sense WBBM radio host / postcaster Robert Colangelo again to share his thoughts on what role the arts and humanities play in changing hearts and minds about climate change, water conservation, and sustainability. We discuss the current economic conditions and the job market for students working in the field of sustainability.

 

Listen to the full episode on your preferred streaming platform by visiting the Green Sense website

“Climate Warriors” Film & Discussion on Mon 12/7 with RU Green

The Roosevelt sustainability student organzation, RU Green, is hosting a showing of the documentary Climate Warriors on Monday, December 7th, at 5 pm. This film follows many stories of climate injustices around the world and shows what people are doing to combat these atrocities. Following the documentary will be a short discussion about the climate justice movement.

All RU community members are welcome to attend! To register for the event please go to https://linktr.ee/rugreen so RU Green organizers can get a rough headcount of attendees and work out final logistics. RU Green will email responders a link on the day of the event. For more info, contact RU Green president Sophia Gallo (sgallo01@mail.roosevelt.edu).

Chicago Youth Climate Strike: Fri 9/20/19 in Grant Park

Join members of RU Green, the Math Club, and others in an all-ages Chicago Youth Climate Strike march in Grant Park in downtown Chicago this Friday 9/20/19 in solidarity with climate strike marchers all over the world. Options for meeting:

  • 10:30am WB Lobby, 425 S. Wabash Ave., then walk with RU Green to Grant Park
  • 11:00am, south end of Grant Park (Roosevelt & Columbus)

RU students, want to help make signs? Join RU Green outside the CSI office (WB 3rd floor) on Wed 9/18 @5pm. Bring your own poster-making supplies if you have ’em (supplies limited).

Questions? Email RU Green prez Samantha Schultz (sschultz10@mail.roosevelt.edu).

Chicago Agreement on Climate & Community: Local Voices

A week before the Chicago Climate Community Forum was held on 3 Dec 2017 at the Field Museum, I was fortunate to participate in the filming of the newly released Chicago Agreement on Climate & Community, which debuted at the forum attended by over 2,000 people last Sunday. Here’s the video, which brings to life the text of the Agreement.

https://vimeo.com/245263516

The Agreement is a living document which you can read, provide feedback on, and sign (if you so wish) yourself and/or on behalf of an organization. Please share this video and the Chicago Community Partnership website with people you know as we build a movement to mitigate climate change here throughout the Chicago region.