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2016 | OriginalPaper | Chapter

3. Wasting Your Money Wasting Food

Author : Baylen J. Linnekin

Published in: Biting the Hands that Feed Us

Publisher: Island Press/Center for Resource Economics

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Abstract

In July 2015, a series of new composting and recycling services debuted in Oakland, California. City officials touted the new program, part of their “Oakland Recycles” initiative, as “a huge step” forward in Oakland’s goal to produce zero waste.1 Although the new services were intended to make Oakland more sustainable, the details of the program show its early impact has been just the opposite. The leading criticism of the rules is that they effectively force restaurants to throw away tons of food that might otherwise be recycled as compost. Somehow, a newservice intended to reduce waste has instead promoted the wasting of food.

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Footnotes
1
Press Release, “Oakland Recycles” Launches Major New Trash, Compost and Recycling Services, City of Oakland, Calif., June 25, 2015.
 
2
Morvarid Bagherzadeh, Mitsuhiro Inamura, & Hyunchul Jeong, Food Waste Along the Food Chain, OECD Food, Agriculture and FisheriesPapers, Dec. 22, 2014, www.​oecd-ilibrary.​org/​agriculture-and-food/​food-waste-along-the-food-chain_​5jxrcmftzj36-en.
 
3
Sam Levin, Oakland’s Trash Program Promotes Waste, East Bay Express, July 15, 2015, www.​eastbayexpress.​com/​oakland/​oaklands-trash-program-promotes-waste/​Content?​oid=​4412694.
 
4
Mike Blasky, Oakland restaurant owners outraged over dramatic compost collection rates, East Bay Times, July 9, 2015, www.​eastbaytimes.​com/​breaking-news/​ci_​28460943/​oakland-restaurant-owners-outraged-over-dramatic-compost-collection.
 
5
Seung Y. Lee, Oakland restaurants protest sharp compost fee hike, Berkeleyside’s Nosh, July 14, 2015, www.​berkeleyside.​com/​2015/​07/​14/​oakland-restaurants-protest-sharp-compost-fee-hike/​.
 
6
Chip Johnson, Oakland’s high composting fees rotten, San Francisco Chronicle, July 13, 2015, www.​sfchronicle.​com/​bayarea/​johnson/​article/​Oakland-s-high-composting-fees-rotten-6382846.​php.
 
7
Robert Gammon, Enough with Environmentally Regressive Policies, East Bay Express, July 15, 2015, www.​eastbayexpress.​com/​oakland/​enough-with-the-environmentally-regressive-policies/​Content?​oid=​4412711.
 
8
Chip Johnson, Oakland City Council was arrogant in awarding garbage contract, SFGate, Sept. 23, 2014, www.​sfgate.​com/​bayarea/​article/​Oakland-City-Council-was-arrogant-in-awarding-5773253.​php.
 
9
Dana Gunders, Wasted: How America Is Losing Up to 40 Percent of Its Food from Farm to Fork to Landfill, NRDC, Aug. 2012, www.​nrdc.​org/​food/​files/​wasted-food-IP.​pdf.
 
10
Food Waste Reduction Alliance, About the Food Waste Reduction Alliance, www.​foodwasteallianc​e.​org/​about-us-page-2/​.
 
11
Jean C. Buzby, Hodan Farah Wells, & Jeffrey Hyman, The Estimated Amount, Value, and Calories of Postharvest Food Losses at the Retail and Consumer Levels in the United States, USDA Economic Information Bulletin No. (EIB-121), Feb. 2014, www.​ers.​usda.​gov/​publications/​eib-economic-information-bulletin/​eib121.​aspx?​mkt_​tok=​3RkMMJWWfF9wsRon​uKjOZKXonjHpfsX5​6%2BwqXaC%2FlMI%2F0ER3fOvrPUfGjI​4ATsthI%2BSLDwEYGJlv6SgF​T7DGMaNny7gNUxI%3D#.​Uw5ZRc6tbTr.
 
12
Jean C. Buzby & Jeffrey Hyman, Total and per capita value of food loss in the United States, Food Policy, July 20, 2012, ucce.​ucdavis.​edu/​files/​datastore/​234-2425.​pdf.
 
13
George Webster, Moldy matters: How wasted food is destroying the environment, CNN, June 27, 2012, www.​cnn.​com/​2012/​06/​27/​world/​europe/​food-waste-emissions-pichler/​.
 
14
United Nations Food & Agriculture Organization, Food wastage foot-print, Impacts on natural resources, 2013, www.​fao.​org/​docrep/​018/​i3347e/​i3347e.​pdf.
 
15
Ibid.
 
16
Ruben N. Lubowski et al., Major Uses of Land in the United States, 2002,USDA Economic Information Bulletin No. (EIB-14), May 2006, www.​ers.​usda.​gov/​publications/​eib-economic-information-bulletin/​eib14.​aspx.
 
17
United Nations Food & Agriculture Organization, Food wastage footprint, Impacts on natural resources, 2013, www.​fao.​org/​docrep/​018/​i3347e/​i3347e.​pdf.
 
18
School Food Focus, School Food 101, School Food Focus & C.S. Mott Group for Sustainable Food Systems at Michigan State University, www.​foodsystems.​msu.​edu/​uploads/​files/​cost-of-school-lunch.​pdf.
 
19
USDA, FY 2010 Budget Summary & Annual Performance Plan, www.​obpa.​usda.​gov/​budsum/​FY10budsum.​pdf.
 
20
Barry Yeoman, Unhappy Meals, Mother Jones, Jan./Feb. 2003, www.​motherjones.​com/​politics/​2003/​01/​unhappy-meals.
 
21
Gordon W. Gunderson, National School Lunch Act, USDA Food & Nutri-tion Service, Aug. 26, 2015, www.​fns.​usda.​gov/​nslp/​history_​5#28; Gor-don W. Gunderson, National School Lunch Program (NSLP), USDA Food& Nutrition Service, June 17, 2014, www.​fns.​usda.​gov/​nslp/​history_​4.
 
22
Regina Weiss, Should School Lunch Be Free for All? Janet Poppendieck Thinks So, Huffington Post, May 25, 2015, www.​huffingtonpost.​com/​regina-weiss/​should-school-lunch-be-fr_​b_​791425.​html.
 
23
USDA, School Meals, Healthy Hunger-Free Kids Act, Mar. 3, 2014, www.​fns.​usda.​gov/​school-meals/​healthy-hunger-free-kids-act.
 
24
Juliana F.W. Cohen et al., Impact of the New U.S. Department of Agriculture School Meal Standards on Food Selection, Consumption, and Waste, Am. J. Prev. Med., Apr. 2014, www.​ncbi.​nlm.​nih.​gov/​pmc/​articles/​PMC3994463/​pdf/​nihms569417.​pdf.
 
25
Amy Hubbard, USDA school lunch rules “best ever”—though pizza is still a “vegetable,” Los Angeles Times, Nation Now, Jan. 25, 2012,
 
26
Marion Nestle, The USDA’s New School Nutrition Standards Are Worth Celebrating, The Atlantic, Jan. 26, 2012, www.​theatlantic.​com/​health/​archive/​2012/​01/​the-usdas-new-school-nutrition-standards-are-worth-celebrating/​252038/​.
 
27
Healthy, Hunger-Free Kids Act of 2010, Public Law 11–296, Dec. 13, 2010, www.​gpo.​gov/​fdsys/​pkg/​PLAW-111publ296/​pdf/​PLAW-111publ296.​pdf.
 
28
Elementary Menu, Montgomery County (Md.) Public Schools, Feb. 2014 (on file with author).
 
29
National School Lunch Program: Participation & Lunches Served, USDA Food & Nutrition Service, Sept. 4, 2015, www.​fns.​usda.​gov/​sites/​default/​files/​pd/​slsummar.​pdf.
 
30
J.N. Kish, U.S. Population 1776 to Present, Annual United States population growth numbers from 1776 to Present Day, Aug. 3, 2010, https://​www.​google.​com/​fusiontables/​DataSource?​dsrcid=​225439#rows:​id=​1.
 
31
National School Lunch Program: Participation & Lunches Served, USDA Food & Nutrition Service, Sept. 4, 2015, www.​fns.​usda.​gov/​sites/​default/​files/​pd/​slsummar.​pdf.
 
32
Jim McLaughlin, Students strike against new federal school lunch rules, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, Sept. 12, 2012, www.​jsonline.​com/​news/​education/​students-strike-against-new-federal-school-lunch-rules-t96t7sp-170124676.​html.
 
33
Jared Liotta, Sandwiches bulked up at Staples after student complaints, Westport News, Sept. 14, 2012, www.​westport-news.​com/​news/​article/​Sandwiches-bulked-up-at-Staples-after-student-3866290.​php.
 
35
Teresa Watanabe, Solutions sought to reduce food waste at schools, Los Angeles Times, Apr. 1, 2014, www.​latimes.​com/​local/​la-me-lausd-waste-20140402-story.​html#page=​1.
 
36
Editorial, To curb school lunch waste, ease the fruit and vegetable rules, Los Angeles Times, Apr. 8, 2014, www.​latimes.​com/​opinion/​editorials/​la-ed-school-lunch-20140408-story.​html.
 
37
Ron Regan, Millions wasted in federal school lunch program, WEWS,Sept. 16, 2014, www.​newsnet5.​com/​news/​local-news/​investigations/​millions-wasted-in-federal-school-lunch-program.
 
40
David Just & Joseph Price, Default options, incentives and food choices, Public Health Nutrition, Dec. 2013, https://​veggieproject.​byu.​edu/​Dr%20​Prices%20​Papers/​default%20​options.​pdf.
 
41
U.S. Government Accountability Office, Implementing Nutrition Changes Was Challenging and Clarification of Oversight Requirements Is Needed, Jan. 2014, www.​gao.​gov/​assets/​670/​660427.​pdf.
 
42
Juliana Cohen, et al., School Lunch Waste among Middle School Students: Implications for Nutrients Consumed and Food Waste Costs, Am. J. Prev. Med., Feb. 2013, www.​ncbi.​nlm.​nih.​gov/​pmc/​articles/​PMC3788640/​.
 
43
Juliana F.W. Cohen et al., Impact of the New U.S. Department of Agriculture School Meal Standards on Food Selection, Consumption, and Waste, Am. J. Prev. Med., Apr. 2014, www.​ncbi.​nlm.​nih.​gov/​pmc/​articles/​PMC3994463/​pdf/​nihms569417.​pdf.
 
44
Juliana Cohen, email message to author, Jan. 6, 2016.
 
45
USDA Food & Nutrition Service, Offer Versus Serve, School Year 2014–2015, www.​fns.​usda.​gov/​sites/​default/​files/​SP57-2014a.​pdf.
 
46
Juliana Cohen, email message to author, Jan. 6, 2016.
 
47
Teresa Watanabe, Solutions sought to reduce food waste at schools, Los Angeles Times, Apr. 1, 2014, www.​latimes.​com/​local/​la-me-lausd-waste-20140402-story.​html#page=​1.
 
48
Mark Wheeler, Love at first bite? Not for L.A. school kids and their vegetables, UCLA Newsroom, May 22, 2014, www.​newsroom.​ucla.​edu/​releases/​love-at-first-bite.
 
49
William J. McCarthy, email message to author, Dec. 9, 2015.
 
50
Janet Poppendieck, Free for All, 2009, University of California Press, Berkeley.
 
51
Chef Ann Cooper, The Future of School Food Means the Future Health of the Nation’s Children, U.S. News & World Report, July 7, 2014, www.​health.​usnews.​com/​health-news/​blogs/​eat-run/​2014/​07/​07/​the-future-of-school-food-means-the-future-health-of-the-nations-children.
 
52
Timothy W. Jones, Using Contemporary Archaeology and Applied Anthropology to Understand Food Loss in the American Food System, Report to the USDA Economic Research Service, 2004, www.​ce.​cmu.​edu/​~gdrg/​readings/​2006/​12/​19/​Jones_​UsingContemporar​yArchaeologyAndA​ppliedAnthropolo​gyToUnderstandFo​odLossInAmerican​FoodSystem.​pdf.
 
53
Eliza Barclay, For Restaurants, Food Waste Is Seen as Low Priority, NPR’sThe Salt, Nov. 27, 2012, www.​npr.​org/​sections/​thesalt/​2012/​11/​27/​165907972/​for-restaurants-food-waste-is-seen-as-low-priority.
 
54
Can Government Control Obesity?, KCRW’s To the Point, Oct. 3, 2012, www.​kcrw.​com/​news-culture/​shows/​to-the-point/​can-government-control-obesity.
 
57
Debbie Roos, Selling Eggs, Meat, and Poultry in North Carolina: What Farmers Need to Know, NC State University Cooperative Extension,Feb. 26, 2011, https://​growingsmallfarm​s.​ces.​ncsu.​edu/​growingsmallfarm​s-meatandeggs/​.
 
58
Rochelle Billow, Are the Beauty Standards for Fruits & Vegetables Unfair?, Bon Appetit, July 29, 2014, www.​bonappetit.​com/​entertaining-style/​trends-news/​article/​fruit-vegetable-beauty-standards.
 
59
Perspectives on Federal Retail Food Grading, Office of Technology Assessment, June 1977, https://​www.​princeton.​edu/​~ota/​disk3/​1977/​7707/​7707.​PDF.
 
60
See, for example, United States Standards for Grades of Swiss Cheese, Emmentaler Cheese, USDA, 66 Fed. Reg. 7458, Jan. 23, 2001, https://​www.​federalregister.​gov/​articles/​2001/​01/​23/​01-2017/​united-states-standards-for-grades-of-swiss-cheese-emmentaler-cheese.
 
63
Larry Meadows, What’s Your Beef—Prime, Choice or Select?, USDA’s blog, Jan. 28, 2013, www.​blogs.​usda.​gov/​2013/​01/​28/​what’s-your-beef---prime-choice-or-select/​.
 
66
USDA Marketing & Regulatory Programs, Agriculture Fact Book 2001–02, www.​usda.​gov/​factbook/​chapter12.​htm.
 
68
John Oliver, Last Week Tonight, July 30, 2015, https://​www.​youtube.​com/​watch?​v=​yIgDy95VcQc.
 
69
NRDC, Left-Out: An Investigation of the Causes & Quantities of Crop Shrink, https://​www.​nrdc.​org/​resources/​left-out-investigation-fruit-and-vegetable-losses-farm.
 
70
Lynda Simkins, in discussion with the author, June 30, 2015.
 
71
USDA, United States Standards for Grades of Maple Syrup, Mar. 2, 2015, https://​www.​ams.​usda.​gov/​sites/​default/​files/​media/​MapleSyrupStanda​rds.​pdf.
 
72
Jimmy Nguyen, Supermarkets and Restaurants Are Fighting Food Waste & Saving Money, USDA blog, Sept. 17, 2014, www.​blogs.​usda.​gov/​2014/​09/​17/​supermarkets-and-restaurants-are-fighting-food-waste-saving-money/​.
 
73
Linda Scott Kantor et al., Estimating and Addressing America’s Food Losses, FoodReview, Jan.-Apr. 1997, www.​endhunger.​org/​PDFs/​USDA-Jan97a.​pdf.
 
75
David Mas Masumoto, Learning to live with imperfection, Merced Sun Star, June 30, 2012, www.​mercedsunstar.​com/​opinion/​opn-columns-blogs/​article3268546.​html.
 
76
Raphael Minder, Tempting Europe with Ugly Fruit, New York Times, May 24, 2014, www.​nytimes.​com/​2014/​05/​25/​world/​europe/​tempting-europe-with-ugly-fruit.​html?​_​r=​0.
 
77
Regulations, Commission Regulation (EC) No 1221/2008, Official Journal of the European Union, Dec. 5, 2008, www.​eur-lex.​europa.​eu/​LexUriServ/​LexUriServ.​do?​uri=​OJ:​L:​2008:​336:​0001:​0080:​en:​PDF.
 
78
Maria Canelhas, email message to author, July 10, 2014.
 
79
Maria Canelhas, in discussion with the author, July 31, 2014.
 
80
Maria Canelhas, email message to author, June 26, 2015.
 
81
Maria Canelhas, email message to author, July 18, 2014.
 
82
Raphael Minder, Tempting Europe with Ugly Fruit, New York Times, May 24, 2014, www.​nytimes.​com/​2014/​05/​25/​world/​europe/​tempting-europe-with-ugly-fruit.​html?​_​r=​0.
 
83
Maria Canelhas, email message to author, July 26, 2015.
 
84
Ibid.
 
85
Maria Canelhas, email message to author, July 18, 2015.
 
86
Maria Canelhas, email message to author, July 26, 2015.
 
87
Jochen Faget, Dodgy stats understate Portugal’s unemployment rate, Deutsche Welle, Apr. 28, 2015, www.​dw.​com/​en/​dodgy-stats-understate-portugals-unemployment-rate/​a-18414326.
 
88
Awards, Fruta Feia, frutafeia.pt/en/thanks (last visited Apr. 17, 2016).
 
89
Bob Granleese et al., The OFM 50: the 50 hottest places, people and trends in food, The Guardian, Mar. 15, 2015, www.​theguardian.​com/​lifeandstyle/​2015/​mar/​15/​ofm-50-hottest-trends-people-places-in-food-for-2015.
 
90
Maria Canelhas, email message to author, June 26, 2015.
 
91
Raphael Minder, Tempting Europe with Ugly Fruit, New York Times, May 24, 2014, www.​nytimes.​com/​2014/​05/​25/​world/​europe/​tempting-europe-with-ugly-fruit.​html?​_​r=​0.
 
92
Steve Holt, How Buying Smaller Fruit Could Save California’s Drought-Stricken Family Farms, Civil Eats, June 22, 2015, www.​civileats.​com/​2015/​06/​22/​how-buying-smaller-fruit-could-save-californias-drought-stricken-family-farms/​.
 
95
Monterey Bay Aquarium, Seafood Watch, Wild Seafood, www.​seafoodwatch.​org/​ocean-issues/​wild-seafood/​bycatch.
 
98
NOAA Fisheries, Magnuson-Stevens Fishery Conservation and Management Act, www.​fisheries.​noaa.​gov/​sfa/​laws_​policies/​msa/​index.​html.
 
99
Alastair Bland, Why 500 Million U.S. Seafood Meals Get Dumped In The Sea, NPR’s The Salt, Mar. 21, 2014, www.​npr.​org/​sections/​thesalt/​2014/​03/​21/​292094853/​why-500-million-u-s-seafood-meals-get-dumped-in-the-sea.
 
100
FAO, Discards in the World’s Marine Fisheries, 2005, www.​fao.​org/​docrep/​008/​y5936e/​y5936e0b.​htm.
 
101
Brian J. Rothschild, Testimony on Improving the Magnuson Stevens Act, U.S. Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, & Transportation, Nov. 3, 2013, www.​centerforsustain​ablefisheries.​org/​wp-content/​uploads/​IMPROVING-THE-MAGNUSON-STEVENS-ACT.​-B.​Rothschild-Testimony.​pdf.
 
102
Brian Rothschild, Time to overhaul U.S. fisheries oversight, Center for Sustainable Fisheries, Aug. 10, 2011, www.​centerforsustain​ablefisheries.​org/​2011/​08/​my-view-brian-rothschild-time-to-overhaul-u-s-fisheries-oversight/​.
 
105
Sean Dimin, email message to author, July 31, 2015.
 
106
Finished Works, Waste at Sea-Striped Bass North Carolina, YouTube, Jan. 20, 2011, https://​www.​youtube.​com/​watch?​v=​VGnqSD9V8Pg.
 
107
Lacey Act, 18 U.S.C. 42–43 (2004) www.​fws.​gov/​le/​pdffiles/​Lacey.​pdf.
 
108
Press Release, U.S. Department of Justice, Thirteen Commercial Fishermen Charged in North Carolina with Illegally Harvesting and Selling Atlantic Striped Bass, Jan. 21, 2015, www.​justice.​gov/​opa/​pr/​thirteen-commercial-fishermen-charged-north-carolina-illegally-harvesting-and-selling.
 
109
Ibid.
 
110
Sean Dimin, email message to author, July 31, 2015.
 
111
Ibid.
 
112
Mwangi S. Kimenyi, The dilemma of destroying ivory as an anti-poaching strategy, Brookings’s Africa in Focus, Mar. 6, 2015, www.​brookings.​edu/​blogs/​africa-in-focus/​posts/​2015/​03/​06-destroying-ivory-anti-poaching-strategy-kimenyi.
 
113
Leslie Kaufman, Partnership Preserves Livelihoods and Fish Stocks, New York Times, Nov. 27, 2011, http://​www.​nytimes.​com/​2011/​11/​28/​science/​earth/​nature-conservancy-partners-with-california-fishermen.​html.
 
115
Ben Sargent, email message to author, June 16, 2015.
 
116
Ibid.
 
117
Travis Riggs, in discussion with the author, July 31, 2015.
 
118
Andrew Knowlton, How Houston Restaurants Are Making “Bycatch” a Buzzword, Bon Appetit, Sept. 11, 2012, www.​bonappetit.​com/​columns/​the-foodist/​article/​how-houston-restaurants-are-making-bycatch-a-buzzword.
 
Metadata
Title
Wasting Your Money Wasting Food
Author
Baylen J. Linnekin
Copyright Year
2016
Publisher
Island Press/Center for Resource Economics
DOI
https://doi.org/10.5822/978-1-61091-676-9_4