Food Waste: Infographic
Sustainability in our food supply is a top concern for Conscious Capitalism because by 2050, the world population is expected to grow to more than nine billion and good nutrition is what keeps the world alive and allows our bodies and minds to thrive. Last week we shared an 83 Degrees article about the Sustany Sustainable Business Program organized by the nonprofit Sustany Foundation and the Tampa Downtown Partnership. The program in partnership with the University of South Florida and the University of Tampa is in it’s inaugural year where “10 participant businesses teamed up with students… to identify best practices for improving environmental sustainability” during a structured three-month program .
One of those businesses, Duckweed Urban Market was recognized last week in Creative Loafing for their approach to reducing food waste. The market opened a “café as a buffer for when the grocery needed help getting rid of product,” café manager Derek Grimsley said. Re-purposing of food that is not perfect or past the sell-by date is part of a national trend to reduce the staggering amount of food waste globally.
Utilizing food waste to feed a growing, “nutritionally insecure” world is an effort that Conscious Capitalism national CEO Doug Rauch understands. “It’s critical that we reframe our thinking about this excess food; that up to 40 percent of what we grow we’re not consuming and for reasons that make no sense”. Rauch is also the founder of the Daily Table, a restaurant and food store in Dorchester, Mass., that will offer expired but viable produce and home-cooked meals at reduced prices.
Rauch gave the keynote address during the this week’s Institute of Food Technologists (IFT) Annual Meeting & Food Expo in New Orleans. IFT developed an infographic that we’ve included on this page to educate people about how much food is wasted because of expiration dates.