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Table Scraps

Visual Aid: Table Scraps — Taking on Food Waste in Greater Phoenix

January 28, 2021 9:00AM

  • The designated tortoise scraps bin at The Farish House — a romantic yet sustainable restaurant in downtown Phoenix.
  • The Restaurant Progress crew is “driven by awareness and responsibility.”
  • Chef Ivan Jacobo's Anhelo is big on the old Reduce, Reuse, Recycle.
  • Mr Mesquite plans to phase out plastic by 2022 — containers, cups, bags, straws, and packaging.
  • Here's how to keep down the holiday meal-related waste.
  • The World Wildlife Fund (WWF) has something of an obvious tip: “Encourage friends and family to take leftovers home.” This should be easy because leftovers are great.
  • It truly starts with grocery stores, which are hectic terrorscapes at the moment, thanks to the season and a deadly virus. But you can still shop smarter — and in doing so, waste less.
  • If you still have a ton of food after your family has bailed, there are specific ways to store it to reduce waste.
  • Finally, compost everything else. It's easier than you think.
  • Arizona Desert Shrimp — it's the prawn of a new era.
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  • At Arizona Desert Shrimp, even the shrimp feed is designed with sustainability in mind.
  • Arizona Desert Shrimp harvesting shrimp from the (temporary) ponds in Gila Bend.
  • The Breadfruit team handed out cups of spicy, Arizona Desert Shrimp ceviche on Election Day.
  • Food Not Bombs Phoenix believes in solidarity, not charity.
  • Food Not Bombs is a group in Phoenix serving meals to the community using surplus food.
  • A pre-COVID potluck at Civic Space Park.
  • Food Not Bombs dates back to 1980. The Phoenix chapter? No idea.
  • An example of a Sunday-night spread.
  • What's your steak in this?
  • It comes down to livestock.
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  • Who, me?
  • Efforts made by three Arizona food-selling business when it comes to food waste and keeping it sustainable.
  • What's Sprouts' deal? We'll tell you.
  • Learn all about the Zero Hunger | Zero Waste plan.
  • The Bashas’ Family of Stores keeps it simple.
  • Online classes, docuseries, and podcasts all about food waste and sustainability — and how those two overlap.
  • ASU's School of Sustainability has online classes so you don't have to go anywhere near Tempe.
  • Just Eat It is a whole food waste story.
  • Visual Aid: Table Scraps — Taking on Food Waste in Greater Phoenix
  • As Columbia University’s Earth Institute stated last year: “The only surefire way to be truly eco-friendly about trash bags is to create less trash, so you don’t need as many!”
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  • Either garbage bags need to calm down or we do.
  • Make the kitchen your water conserving station.
  • Toss limes in with the garbage. (You can do this with lemons or citrus peels as well.) The juice adds a citrusy scent to the can, or it at least neutralizes the intensity of the garbage smell (or prevents it from getting to that point).
  • Roughly one million housekeeping websites advise treating your less-than-fresh garbage with a few drops of extract or essential oil.
  • Think about the way you do dishes. Maybe get this book.
  • There's a way to do it. And a way to overdo it.
  • You know, because water's a little tight out in the desert.
  • Worried about kitchen waste? Water is part of that.
  • A Postmate will show up to your restaurant within 20 minutes to pick up excess food donations.
  • Food waste is still being fought during the pandemic.
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  • Musically Fed normally looks to music venues, but now, the local organization is turning to restaurants to feed those in need.
  • Danielle Leoni, co-owner and chef of The Breadfruit & Rum Bar, is a pillar of sustainable restauranting.
  • A beautiful head of Romanesco.
  • If you call yourself a chef or culinarian, it means that you are creative.
  • Think: Which part of this don’t I have a plan for?
  • If you know the story, you may be less quick to toss.
  • Pour some rum on it for the love of it.
  • The Valley's own R. City is a a food waste pickup service that uses your food waste and compostables for to rejuvenate farmland in south Phoenix.
  • An R. City food waste receptacle at Phoenix City Hall.
  • If you've been cut off from your away-from-home compost receptacle, ShareWaste can help.
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  • Food waste collection instructions at Phoenix City Hall.
  • We get it. You can't have this setup in an apartment. Good thing there's a food waste pickup service in Phoenix.
  • It's all about Farmland for the Future.
  • Visual Aid: Table Scraps — Taking on Food Waste in Greater Phoenix
  • A look at that five-gallon bucket.
  • Don't heed the call of the cups.
  • Yes, there are alternatives.
  • Yes, there are recycling options now — if you do it. Do you?
  • Are these machines all that durable?
  • How to be smarter about storing food about the kitchen. Stay true to the first in, first out, routine.
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  • Are there better ways to store our produce till that test run or family dinner?
  • Start jamming your fruits and veggies in the freezer.
  • A cilantro bouquet.
  • I audibly gasped at a Target the first time I saw Igloo’s Recool model.
  • And there are all sorts of ways to not use plastic.
  • How can shopping smart reduce your household food waste? First, don't overbuy.
  • We could all shop a little smarter and waste a little less.
  • Keep like 10 of these in your car.
  • Making a list is one of the best ways to avoid overbuying.
  • Ugly carrots are carrots, too.
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  • You can certainly feed some animals food scraps — if it’s done safely and lawfully.
  • The Harvard Food Law and Policy Clinic and the Food Recovery Project has something to say about all this.
  • Check out the handy AFGFD guide on captive desert tortoise diets.
  • The designated tortoise scraps bin at The Farish House in downtown Phoenix.
  • These little guys come with their own protection act.
  • Chuck, a friendly neighborhood goat in Mesa, is treated to some bread scraps.
  • The tale of the leftover.
  • Leftovers can help us fight food waste.
  • Geordie’s chef de cuisine Ashley Goddard has a special relationship with leftovers.
  • Leftovers have come a long way.
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  • Waste NOT is a delivery service in Phoenix taking food to those in need that would otherwise be discarded.
  • Last year, Waste NOT diverted 1,750 tons of food from local landfills.
  • Seeing the other side.
  • Executive director Kate Thoene with children on Phoenix Day.
  • Sure, a 3 p.m. pick-me-up is needed, but there has to be another way.
  • The drive-thru window is nice, but in some cases, there's more harm than convenience.
  • But, it's not all bad. "We can actually see decreases in air pollution throughout the city.”
  • Tales from the inaugural Sustainable Packaging Expo.
  • The Sustainable Packaging Expo was held at the appropriate Arizona Heritage Center.
  • Two local bakers looking for sustainable packaging options.
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  • Going beyond the wrapper to tackle food packaging waste.
  • It's just a communication, not an expiration.
  • Expiration dates — what does this shit even mean?
  • Christopher Wharton, an Arizona State University associate professor of nutrition and assistant dean of innovation and strategic initiatives.
  • A beginner's guide to DIY composting.
  • All of this can go in your compost pile.
  • Completed compost, or "black gold."
  • Entrance to the 27th Avenue Transfer Station.
  • The compost bins available at the 27th Avenue Transfer Station.

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Lauren Cusimano
The designated tortoise scraps bin at The Farish House — a romantic yet sustainable restaurant in downtown Phoenix.
Welcome to Table Scraps — visual edition. This roundup is from our online series on the growing issue of food waste and what some Phoenix-area eateries, organizations, and everyday people are doing right.

But there’s something we want to be clear about from the start — this isn’t a guilt trip. This is my way of unpacking initiatives attempting to reduce kitchen waste and food loss.

We’ve explored backyard composting to food packaging, nonprofits and local groups to etiquette history, and a few other topics relating to this global issue — including some drive-thru shaming (sorry).

So, heat up those leftovers and settle in. Here’s an entire slideshow of all the Table Scraps stories so far.

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