By Sarah Currie-Halpern, Co-Founder and Partner, Think Zero LLC
Thanksgiving is many things: a storied American tradition, the last hurrah before the holiday season starts (or the start of the holiday season depending on how you look at it), an important reminder to be grateful, a labor-intensive cooking bonanza, and a great excuse to gather and gorge ourselves on delicious food. There’s plenty to love about the annual get-together, but it comes with an unsavory side dish of excess waste.
Food waste is a huge problem year-round, and it only gets worse on Thanksgiving. Last year, the nonprofit organization ReFed estimated that Americans wasted some 312 million pounds of food on Thanksgiving. Upstream of that number is some 103.6 billion gallons of water waste it took to grow all that food. That’s an absolutely unbelievable number for just one day. And by the way, this is absolutely a climate issue. According to Project Drawdown, the 2nd most high impact action Households and Individuals can do is to reduce food waste.
When the problem is this big, every little effort towards waste reduction helps. Thanksgiving can be plenty stressful as-is, and there’s no shame in starting small and spreading out your waste reduction efforts from prep to clean-up.
Here are a few places to start:
Preparation is everything.
The Boy Scouts were right about being prepared. Meal planning naturally happens in advance, but it should be specific enough that you can then go to the grocery store and buy only what you need. RSVP-ing is key here! It’s very easy to unintentionally over-buy just because you haven’t run the numbers on the amount of food or guests. In other words, waste reduction efforts begin first and foremost with accurate grocery and guest lists.
Don’t succumb to decoration temptation.
Thanksgiving decorations are essential to a great-looking table, but avoid the bag of plastic leaves, fall-themed ribbons, and other low-quality, mass-produced decor. Go for items made from durable materials that will last year after year. Antique and thrift stores often sell beautiful decorations this time of year, which not only keeps the circular economy moving but can elevate your whole table. A quirky set of turkey candlesticks from the 1950s will look better and more unique than anything you can buy at Target.
Get smarter about packing leftovers.
Saving and eating leftovers is a no-brainer when it comes to reducing food waste, but this process can reduce plastic waste too. Ditch the old-fashioned Tupperware and pick up some glass or compostable food containers for your guests. Better yet, ask your guests to bring their own containers so you don’t have to buy anything new. When it’s something that doesn’t necessarily need a container, opt for recyclable aluminum foil rather than plastic wrap.
The freezer is your friend.
Don’t doom the leftovers you can’t eat in the following week or so to the landfill. Wrap them in foil, date and label them, and freeze them for later. Don’t forget to think about freezer space in advance of the holiday either. Clear some space in the days and weeks prior by eating what’s already in there. A lot of waste happens as a matter of inconvenience, but planning ahead solves this problem easily.
Compost everything you can.
Leftovers help prevent edible food waste, and composting helps with inedible food waste—turkey bones, potato peelings, onion skins, the works. Rather than letting all that rot in the landfill (where it will contribute to landfills’ enormous methane production problem), collect it for composting and drop it off at your local composting center.
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