So the question becomes "What can I do about this?” Taking on the world hunger problem is surely a daunting task but you can do a couple of things that will reduce the amount of food that YOU throw out.

First, be a smart shopper. Buying a larger quantity of an item in order to get a price break and then wasting some of that food due to spoilage doesn't make sense or save you money. What you want to do is to buy the correct amount of something so that it doesn't spoil before you get to eat it.

The second thing that you can do to reduce food waste in your household is to cook smarter so that you do not have a bunch of leftovers that will eventually be thrown out. If you do have leftovers, it is hard to avoid them at times, plan to use them when preparing your next meal. By smarter purchases and cooking the right amount of food, not only will you be able to reduce the food waste in your household but also your monthly food expense.

The reality is that we all create food waste. Then the question becomes "What do I do with the food waste?”  The answer is COMPOST, COMPOST, COMPOST.   Starting a compost pile is the very best thing that you can do with your food waste for several reasons, that is unless you have chickens, but that is an entirely different subject. By starting a compost pile, your food waste will no longer go to a landfill but instead will be turned into a resource on your property that can be used on your property.

Composting is easy.  You do not need to have a store bought bin. The only thing you need is a place to locate your compost pile. It’s easy because nature does most of the work in breaking down this organic matter.  A bunch of bacteria, fungi and worms eat the organic matter and turn it into compost, which makes plants flourish. Those little critters need the same things that we people need, food, water and air. If all three are in a reasonable balance, composting happens..

So here is how you can start to compost if you do not already do so. Place a food waste container some place in your kitchen where it will be convenient to use. So you place all of your food waste, vegetable trimmings, old leftovers, coffee grinds, paper towels and plates, shredded paper and any organic matter into the container. Generally, you will need to empty the container every two to four days to avoid odors. Place the contents of the container on your compost pile.

 
Starting a compost pile is as simple as putting your food waste in the same place in your yard.  You can add yard waste to the pile such as palm tree debris, leaves, garden trimmings and smaller branches which helps air get into the pile.. A combination of both food waste and yard waste works best. It will start out a little slow until you build up some mass in the pile and then composting starts to happen. Those bacteria, fungi and worms realize that lunch is served and they start to break everything down.  Just keep piling it up and nature will do the rest. You will see that the pile keeps shrinking as the waste decomposes and if you dig into the bottom of an established compost pile, you will find worms, lots of worms.

So if you do not currently compost you might consider giving it a try. It is very easy to do.  The landfill won't miss your food waste but your plants and worms sure will love the compost that you produce.