Don't Let Holiday Leftovers Go To Waste!

Reducing Food Waste

This Holiday season, we hope to spread the word to be mindful of food waste now and in the coming year. Many of us host guests in our homes and wouldn’t dream of letting them leave without taking at least some leftovers - ensuring that the food that was lovingly prepared for the holiday celebration is not wasted. We can bring this same attitude into our everyday meals too!

First, let’s try to prevent the waste from happening in the first place! Try to buy and prepare only what we need, give leftovers to friends and family or store in the freezer. But when those measures fail, please COMPOST!

Compost Food Scraps

Sometimes, despite best intentions, there will still be a little food that is no longer good to eat. Wait! There’s no need to throw it in the trash!

Food waste that decomposes in landfills releases methane. Methane is a greenhouse gas that is at least 28 times more potent than carbon dioxide!

Instead, you can compost your leftovers! Either in your own backyard or by signing up for a local compost collection.

Composting isn’t just limited to leftovers either, you can also compost the scraps and peels that are left behind while preparing your meal.

What Foods Can I Compost?

• Fruit and Vegetable Scraps (watch out for produce stickers unless they’re compostable!)
• Leftovers (try to eat these, but if they’re no longer good they can be composted!)
• Some composting facilities will also accept meat and fish leftovers
• Tea leaves & coffee grounds (watch out for tea bags, many are made with plastic)
• Egg shells

*Check with your local composting facility to find out what they will accept.

For more info on composting, check out our blog post - 9 Step Guide to Home Composting

Reduce waste all year

While the holidays are a great time to be mindful of the waste we produce, reducing food waste isn’t just limited to this time of year. We can (and should!) strive to reduce waste all year long. What a fantastic goal to set for going in to 2020!

It’s easy to turn trash into usable soil and create regenerative ecosystems. At Elevate Packaging, our team shares this vision personally. By composting our holiday waste we can turn it into a product that helps our soil - at the same time reducing the amount of waste sent to landfills!