Spare Change is the nation’s oldest street newspaper. Elizabeth wrote and took pictures for the July 25th 2014 cover story.

Waste Not, Want Not: Food Recovery Grows Out of Massachusetts’ Waste Ban

“In 2011, the Environmental Protection Agency reported that America generated 36 million tons of food waste and 96 percent of that food went directly to landfills or incinerators.

In the same year, the EPA also reported that 14.9 percent of homes in the US did not know where their next meal would come from. Instead of ending up in landfills food can be composted or used to create energy, but if food is still usable, it can go to providing a meal for those who need it.

Across the United States, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is leading a push to reallocate the food Americans throw away. In Massachusetts, reducing food waste is part of a statewide goal to decrease the burden put on landfills. The Office of Energy and Environmental Affairs reports that organics, like food waste, make up 25 percent of the current waste stream…”

Read the full story online.