Did you know that 40% of food is wasted in the US? Resources to learn more about how to reduce our consumption and solid waste that we’ve come across. Please let us know if there’s something we should add!
- Take Action – Suggestions from the panelists
- AK Common Ground Event video 4-2021
- Podcasts
- Videos and Films
- Articles and websites
- Books
Take Action
- Reduce – Think about what you’re buying when you buy it
- Have a water bottle with you at all times
- Don’t take the plastic cutlery with take out
- Make conscious changes to your grocery shopping habits to reduce your purchasing of products packaged with single use plastic.
- How can this change become a middle out action for our community?
- Reuse
- Buy things second hand
- Donate products that still have use
- Recycle
- Buy products that can be recycled
- Participate in the compost programs
- Find out about Muni composting programs
- Support a friend’s compost
- Learn about it and start your own compost pile
Event Video from 4-29-2021
Moderated by Suzanna Caldwell, Recycling Coordinator, Municipality of Anchorage – 4-29 ACG consumption and solid waste – MOA
Panelists:
- Anita Nelson, Executive Director, Alaskans for Litter Prevention and Recycling – Slide showing aluminum recycling
- Jennifer Gordon, Co-owner/Founder of Blue Market AK – Consumption Presentation – Blue Market AK 4-21
- Jodie Anderson, UAF Matanuska Experiment Farm and Extension Center – Composting Presentation 4-2021 – MatSu Exp Farm
Podcasts
- Recycling! Is it BS? | How to Save a Planet (gimletmedia.com) – takes a look at the science to help us understand whether recycling is an environmental boon or hindrance and also dives into what recycling has to do with tackling climate change.
- Solving a Rooftop Solar Mystery, and What’s a Nurdle? | How to Save a Planet – If you put a plastic bag in a bin outside your grocery store – will it really end up being recycled?
- 99% Invisible: Dead Cars – We all throw things away — in many cases, it ends up in a landfill, far removed from our consciousness. But the junk remains on the Earth. It is all piling up somewhere. In Bethel, there are no illusions about where that place is. It’s all around them.
Videos and Films
- Food wastage footprint – explains how much food is wasted worldwide.
- How San Francisco Is Becoming A Zero Waste City
- How do we solve our Trash Problem
- Love Food Hate Waste – Keep Crushing It
- Love Food Hate Waste
- The Story of Plastic -trailer
- UN News-Environmental Justice and Plastic Pollution
- Plastic bricks in Kenya – NZAMBI MATEE – Young Champion of the Earth 2020 for Africa
- How much climate change is in your trash? From King County. Check out their website for more resources.
- Canadians get creative in solving food waste problem
- Food waste is the world’s dumbest problem – University of California
- What’s Your Food Footprint? | Earth Lab
- The Story of Stuff – 20-minute, fast-paced, fact-filled look at the underside of our production and consumption patterns.
- Just Eat It: A Food Waste Story (FULL MOVIE)
- What happens to my recyclables? – What’s in our garbage – Garbage & recycling services – King County Solid Waste Division
- Climate change and the circular economy: the hidden wealth in waste
- John Oliver takes on Food Waste – July 2015
Articles and Websites
- Anchorage Recycles
- Food Waste — Alaska Food Policy Council (akfoodpolicycouncil.org)
- Cornell Waste Management Institute – Lots of information about composting
- Climate Lab- Univ of California Follow conservation scientist and UCLA visiting researcher M. Sanjayan as he explores surprising ways to change how we think and act about climate change. (Excellent videos on multiple climate topics.)
- Climate change and solid waste information from King County’s Solid Waste Division
- How Buying Stuff Drives Climate Change Earth Institute/Columbia University- Dec 2020
- Green America; National Green Pages -find green, healthy, and ethically produced products and services you need for home and work.
- https://www.breakfreefromplastic.org/
- Your Diet Is Cooking the Planet But two simple changes can help. The Atlantic, April 2021
- Trash is for Tossers -a resource for reducing your waste daily, Zero Waste inspiration, environmental education, and everyday actions that create a positive impact. https://www.trashisfortossers.com/
- A one page summary from Project Drawdown of how and why recycling household, commercial and industrial waste can cut emissions. https://www.drawdown.org/solutions/recycling
- Plastic Film Recycling – learn more about plastic film, including which types you can recycle and where to recycle them
- The petroleum industry is now investing in plastics production as demand for other uses of oil dries up.
- Globally, plastic is a pollution nightmare. Locally, Eco-Cycle offers solutions and hope. – GetBoulder.com
- What can you do about climate change? from King County’s Solid Waste Division – King County (Seattle) solid waste division website has many links with great info, references and films related to climate change, waste management, recycling, composting etc.
- Read about even more things you can RECYCLE https://www.greenamerica.org/21ThingsToRecycle
- https://www.stopwaste.org/at-home
- Natural Resources Defense Council has a lot of information on their website.
Books
- The Humanure Handbook: Shit in a Nutshell by Joseph C. Jenkins. The fourth edition of this underground classic is completely revised, expanded, and updated, help new edition and half sequel. The author draws on forty years of research, experience, and travel, to expand and clarify your knowledge and understanding of your poop and what you can do with it!
- Composting for a New Generation: Latest Techniques for the Bin and Beyond by Michelle Balz. Composting is no longer only in the realm of environmentalists! It’s not just about reducing food waste; most composters get their hands dirty because of the benefits it brings to the soil in their garden.
- The Rodale Book of Composting: Simple Methods to Improve Your Soil, Recycle Waste, Grow Healthier Plants, and Create an Earth-Friendly Garden by Grace Gershuny & Deborah L. Martin. This revised edition of The Rodale Book of Composting includes all the latest in new techniques, technology, and equipment. Gardeners know composting is the best way to feed the soil and turn food scraps into fresh produce, but even urbanites can get on board thanks to programs like compost pickup and citywide food waste initiatives—there’s no better way to reduce landfill waste (and subsequent emissions) and dependence on fossil fuels while nourishing the earth.
- The Sustainable(ish) Living Guide: Everything You Need to Know to Make Small Changes That Make a Big Difference by Jen Gale. If you want to save the planet, but your to-do list is already long and remembering your re-usable coffee cup feels like a Herculean task, then this is the book for you. Covering every aspect of our lives from the stuff we buy and the food we eat, to how we travel, work, and celebrate. This book provides stacks of practical, down to earth ideas to slot into your daily life, alongside a gentle kick up the butt to put your newfound knowledge into action.
- The (Almost) Zero Waste Guide: 100+ Tips for Reducing Your Waste Without Changing Your Life by Melanie Mannarino. In a perfect world, we would all be able to fit a year’s worth of waste in a mason jar. But for most of us, doing so can be immensely intimidating or simply not feasible.But even if you can’t be perfectly zero waste, you can still have a profound impact on our environment, climate, and health by making some simple changes to your lifestyle and habits.
- 101 Ways to Go Zero Waste by Kathryn Kellogg. We all know how important it is to reduce our environmental footprint, but it can be daunting to know where to begin. Enter Kathryn Kellogg, who can fit all her trash from the past two years into a 16-ounce mason jar. In 101 Ways to Go Zero Waste, Kellogg shares tips and more, along with DIY recipes for beauty and home; advice for responsible consumption and making better choices for home goods, fashion, and the office; and even secrets for how to go waste free at the airport.
- Life Without Plastic: The Practical Step-By-Step Guide to Avoiding Plastic to Keep Your Family and the Planet Healthy by Chantal Plamondon and Jay Sinha. Life Without Plastic strives to create more awareness about BPA-based products, polystyrene and other single-use plastics, and provides readers with ideas for safe, reusable and affordable alternatives.
- How to Give Up Plastic: A Guide to Changing the World, One Plastic Bottle at a Time by Will McCallum. Going room by room through your home and workplace, Greenpeace activist Will McCallum teaches you how to spot disposable plastic items and find plastic-free, sustainable alternatives to each one.
- The Parents’ Guide to Climate Revolution: 100 Ways to Build a Fossil-Free Future, Raise Empowered Kids, and Still Get a Good Night’s Sleep by Mary DeMocker. In this book’s brief, action-packed chapters, you’ll learn hundreds of wide-ranging ideas for being part of the revolution — from embracing simplicity parenting, to freeing yourself from dead-end science debates, to teaching kids about the power of creative protest, to changing your lifestyle in ways that deepen family bonds, improve moods, and reduce your impact on the Earth.
- The Buy Nothing, Get Everything Plan: Discover the Joy of Spending Less, Sharing More, and Living Generously by Liesl Clark and Rebecca Rockefeller. At once an actionable plan and a thought-provoking exploration of our addiction to stuff, this powerful program will help you declutter your home without filling landfills, shop more thoughtfully and discerningly, and let go of the need to buy new things.
