"trash" news and stories

Oh, man. So this squirrel was caught on film with its head stuck inside a Yoplait yogurt container.

The squirrel attempts to do all of its usual running, jumping, and generally squirrelish activities against the majestic backdrop of a white, elegant gazebo at South Carolina's Furman University -- all while wearing the container on its head. Apparently the videographer, a WYFF photographer, helped the squirrel remove his cap after filming this footage.

Click and come back to tell us:



[YouTube via Serious Eats]

Are you sick of dealing with leaked moisture and gelatinous goo in your waste receptacles?

Wrap, a British nonprofit that works with the government "to reduce the volume of waste which [is] sent to landfill," has just completed a survey that indicates British shoppers throw out approximately 30% of all the food that they buy. Half of that amount is made of up inedible items, such as bones, vegetable peelings and tea bags, and half of it is still completely edible.

The source of the problem, according to Wrap's chief executive, Jenny Price, is that people constantly want to have a choice and want to "make sure that there's plenty in the fridge" whenever possible. She also feels that people tend to not think about what it is they're throwing away. Once the food has been tossed into the bin, or sealed up in a garbage bag, the "out of sight, out of mind" maxim kicks in. Most people, according to the research, had no idea what they were throwing away; only 10% admitted that they probably disposed of quite a lot of food.

Proposed solutions include encouraging supermarkets and vendors not to up-sell people into buying more than they need and encouraging shoppers to keep lists - or at least check the cupboards - before heading out to shop. "People who go into stores with a shopping list usually stick to it, and you usually find they have less waste," said Price.

Source

In January, the city of Oakland, California, just across the bay from San Francisco, instituted a tax on businesses that they believed created the most litter in the city. The city council felt that businesses needed to be more socially responsible for their customer's actions, while business owners opposed the measure, saying that packaging is necessary to sell goods - particularly food items - in a safe and sanitary manner.

Now, city businesses have to change the way they package their food, in addition to paying for it, because the city has just banned styrofoam food packaging.

Due to take effect in January, the measure says that all food packaging must be biodegradable when composted with food waste. Supporters of the law point out that 15 percent of the litter collected in storm drains is styrofoam/polystyrene packaging. They gained additional support from the fact that there are 100 other cities, including Portland and neighboring Berkeley, which have similar bans, and San Francisco is expected to join that list later this year.

The city will use fines ranging from $100-$500 to enforce the measure and businesses that still use styrofoam will have have to find another way to keep their food warm.

 

Source

Perusing the latest issue of Cook's Country, a publication I quite enjoy, I was astounded when I came to the "When Things Go Wrong in the Kitchen" section at the back of the magazine. It is intended to be funny, but what it really shows is that people need to learn when to throw things away. No matter how thrifty you are or how closely you need to watch your wallet, sometimes it is simply best to throw away your mistake and start over from scratch. A good time to consider this action is when food is burnt, bad or if you have been eating leftovers for more than a couple of days.

Witness the following incidents, all harvested from the kitchen disaster stories in Cook's Country:

• A woman wanted to make homemade noodles the way her grandmother did. The recipe looked like it would not make enough, so she added to it until it was several times the original size. She and her husband ate noodles for more than two weeks and it was years before they wanted to eat them again.