Food for Thought: America’s Food Waste Problem

Doug Reynics

America grows four times the amount of food that it consumes. So what happens to all the excess food? A large percentage of it is discarded and ends up in landfills. A staggering eighty billion pounds of food are discarded annually, making up the largest space in landfills. This discarded food could easily feed the large numbers of hungry people in need of nutritional food, and not just a wasteful use of the chemicals used to grow it.

An Atlanta non-profit organization is seeking to reduce the amount of discarded food while addressing food insecurity of those in need. FreeFoodCommune, a ‘freegan coop’ founded in 2014, began its food rescue crusade to lessen food waste and to provide nutritious food for families at a very reasonable cost. It keeps food items like overstock, expired or imperfect items out of landfills.

The weekly FreeFoodCommune is held each Saturday from noon to 2:00 p.m., at Edgewood Church, 1560 Memorial Drive SE in Atlanta. A person pays $35 any Saturday that they attend and brings one to five plastic tote bins into which to put their food selections. At the event, a person can get enough food in one trip to feed a family of four for a month: meats, fresh produce, milks, cheeses, pantry cans, rice, beans, breads, desserts, juices and meals already cooked (just heat and eat).

Much of the food rescued comes from the Atlanta Farmers Market. On one of the weekday programs, I bought approximately $500 worth of perfectly good, Grade A produce for a fraction of the cost. Six months later, I actually still have butternut squash from that trip. I donated a large amount to the NETWorks Cooperative Ministry in Tucker. We canned, dehydrated, froze and consumed the rest.

It is within our means to reduce food waste. We just have to want to do it, and I hope you will join me in this endeavor. To learn more about FreeFoodCommune, visit freefoodcommune.us or follow it on Facebook

Doug Reynics is a longtime Tucker resident and self-described “foodie.” Many know him as “Doug the Driver,” who provides rides to and from both the domestic and international airport terminals. (To date, his service has provided 1,650 airport rides!) If you have a food story or question you would like to see him write about, email him at dougthedriver1@gmail.com.

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