This week marks National Food Waste Prevention Week, including here in the Rogue Valley. 

Late last month, Jackson County Commissioners proclaimed the event official in the county, marking the 10th through the 16th of April Food Waste Prevention Week. This comes on the heels of Southern Oregon Climate Action Now (SOCAN)’s March meeting where Southern Oregon Food Solutions focused on the topic, energizing participants to find endorsers for the national proclamation and offering helpful tips on what households can do to prevent food waste. 

WHEREAS, up to 35 percent of all food produced is thrown away, and a family of four could save an average of $1,800 annually on uneaten food; and
WHEREAS, food landfills, when buried without air, will decompose and release methane gas which contributes to climate change, and the public has a responsibility in helping the next generation adopt good sustainability practices; and
WHEREAS, the public has the opportunity to save shared resources such as land, water, energy, and transportation that are used to make food available that ultimately goes uneaten, and everyone would benefit from better utilizing food resources.

Now, therefore,

The Board of Commissioners of Jackson County PROCLAIMS:

I. April I 0-16, 2023, as Food Waste Prevention Week in Jackson County, Oregon, and encourage all residents to commit to the practice of reduce, recover, and recycle food waste.

Jackson County Board of Commissioners, Order No. 57-23

Oregon took third out of all 50 states for its work organizing around the commemorative week, with 42 local governments and community organizations working on the issue, in partnership with the Oregon Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ). These groups, like Southern Oregon Food Solutions and SOCAN, are hosting seminars and educating locals about the impacts, causes, and solutions to the food waste problem. Check out their discussion on Jefferson Exchange.

Uncle Food’s Diner, a Peace House program which has offered a weekly free meal in Ashland for the past 28 years, participates in reducing food waste by recovering hundreds of pounds of edible food each week. With our partners, we interrupt the waste cycle with the help of local grocers, Food Angels and the Ashland Emergency Food Bank. The food is then crafted into delicious meals for those in need, and any waste is either fed to animals or composted by local farms.

Food waste constitutes the second largest source of greenhouse gasses in Oregon. An important feature of preventing food waste, rather than just recovering it, is the potential for significant reduction in climate pollution in Oregon.

“Preventing one ton of food from being wasted offers six-to-seven times larger reductions in greenhouse gas emissions over the food’s lifecycle, on average, than keeping food waste out of landfills through composting or anaerobic digestion,” writes the Oregon DEQ in a press release. 

The agency offers tips for households to prevent the waste, including:

• Know how and where to store food properly so it lasts longer
• Keep track of what you have at home or what you need to use up before it goes bad
• Create meals from what you have on hand
• Finish all your leftovers
• Freeze for later use
• Monitor the temperature in the fridge to make sure it’s at the best setting to preserve your food
• Check your fridge and pantry before you shop
  

But everyone does create some waste, and rerouting it away from the landfill can both offer nutrients to soil through compost and reduce methane emissions from solid waste disposal sites. While Southern Oregon does not have curbside pickup or centralized composting options, Rogue Produce will pick up food scraps for about $15 per month and donate them to local farms to compost.

Supporters of Food Waste Prevention Week Include:

Ashland Food Project

Southern Oregon Climate Action Now

ACCESS

Ashland Emergency Food Bank

Ashland School Board

Ashland Food Co-op

Southern Oregon Pachamama Alliance

Ashland Climate Collaborative

Rogue Produce

Rogue to Go

Rogue Valley Food System Network

Bellview Grange #759 (Ashland)

Rogue Valley Farm 2 School

Hardy Seeds

Sustainable Rogue Valley

Emerging Futures Network

Ashland School of Environmental Technology

Southern Oregon Food Solutions

Peace House / Uncle Foods Diner