Waste Not, Want Not

One aspect of the Eating Alabama diet that is important to discuss is the issue of WASTE. Prior to this diet, Joe and I did not generate enough trash to warrant carrying it to the curb weekly. There were plastic bags from frozen food or baby carrots, but it did not add up as it does for some folk. However, we did have a huge recycling pile- cans from beans and other veggies; cans from beer; glass jars from salsa or tomato sauce; paperboard boxes from veggie sausage and burgers; plastic containers of every shape and size from margarine to cottage cheese to sody pop.

Now, since all of our food is fresh, we generate even less trash. There are no take out containers, no plastic bags that are not reusable, no cans. The majorityof the waste that we are producing is compostable, i.e. the vegetable scraps and egg shells, or else meat by-products, which our dogs happily consume. The boxes that our strawberries were picked into will be reused on our own farm and the egg cartons returned to the egg farmer for reuse. The first word in the triad is "REDUCE, reuse, recyle." We are able to do this when eating only local foods.

Since we cannot buy any beer in cans and really the only alchohol that we consume in any quantity is wine, we are collecting a fair amount of glass to be recycled. Still, the amount of "trash" that we produce, which would occupy space in a landful and require a gas-guzzling vehicle to collect, is down by more that 50%. I realized this when my parents came for a visit and I bought "conventional" groceries. We had to throw away bags from potato chips, paper from cereal boxes, milk containers from soy milk. It adds up. Even if you think that how you are eating is ethical- the organic potato chips or the antibiotic free milk, there is still the issue of waste to consider. How we make decisions about food should not exclude this concern.