Workshop to reduce food waste & greenhouse emissions
Move For Hunger & Asbury Fresh Earth Day event yields composting kit
Before you throw away leftover vegetables and fruit – think gazpacho.
That was but one of the tips Chef Dan Vogt [at right], owner of Hello Chef in Long Branch, shared with those who attended Friday’s Earth Day Urban Composting Workshop at Cowerks on Lake Avenue in Asbury Park.
Hosted by Move for Hunger and Asbury Fresh, the event provided simple steps to reduce food waste.
Pointing to a Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research study that estimates 1/10 of all greenhouse emissions could be traced back to food waste by 2050, organizers shared best practices to help mitigate these effects.
“Some people just chuck everything,” Vogt said. “Look through your fridge and see what you have that might be on its way out. Maybe you could make a salsa, a relish…whatever you want. Food processors are great for that.”
A part of the discussion focused on how to safely prepare fresh fruits and vegetables when an organic option is not available, organizers said in a written news release.
“We don’t peel any of our carrots; we wash them with kind of a soft sponge,” Vogt said. “We don’t peel any of our root vegetables, at all. There’s quality nutrients in there and when you peel it you’re throwing away all that vegetable.”
Vogt also encourages embracing one’s experimental side: “Try something new every time you’re out because you really can come up with a lot of cool ideas.”
The how to of home composting was outlined by Move for Hunger’s Events Coordinator Abby Zembower [at right], who said an estimated 40% of all food produced in the United States ends up in a landfill each year.
“When organic material, such as food waste, gets buried in a dump and is deprived of oxygen, it releases methane, a greenhouse gas far more harmful than carbon dioxide,” she said. “Composting allows the material to decompose aerobically, which significantly reduces the amount of methane that is released into the atmosphere.”
In the end, each workshop attendee received a Countertop Compost Collector, courtesy of Full Circle Home.
Zembower’s tips:
Begin to reduce kitchen food waste by storing scraps in the organic waste in the collector
Transfer the contents countertop collectors contents to an outdoor container, such as a five-gallon bucket.
Make sure that you blend an equal portion of greens [fruit and vegetable materials and grass clippings] with browns [leaves, twigs and soil].
Drill holes in the bottom of the bucket to drain moisture and turn the mixture often to ensure enough oxygen is circulated.
Adding worms to the mix to assist the process.
[Photos courtesy of Move For Hunger; Brittany Jacobs and Gabby Colon in featured image]
———————————————————————————-
Follow the Asbury Park Sun on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.
The Asbury Park Sun is affiliated with the triCityNews newspaper.
