The bill, signed into law by Gov. Jerry Brown, follows a law from earlier in October that expanded liability protections for food donations.
Source: UPDATE: California governor signs new date label bill to reduce food waste
5.5 million tons of food are going to just California landfills each year! Oh my. So if we eat about 3 lb of food a day that’s about half a ton in a year per person. You could feed all of Los Angeles free on what we just throw out.
If you believe in permaculture you do not believe in throwing out lots of food. Now granted a fair amount of this waste is from restaurants and they actually have a monetary interest in not throwing out good food. So probably the majority of the waste that can be reduced comes from residential refrigerators.
My ex-significant other used to throw out more food than I bought. Partially because I was eating a lot of stuff from my garden. Much of which actually never made it inside.:-) But she would buy lots of lettuce and celery and stuff that she thought she would use for cooking and not get around to it; it would get pushed to the back and go bad and then she’d buy some more. Of course I got lots of stuff for my red worms and composting :-)
There’s also information available that suggests that going to the grocery store if you’re hungry is not a good idea. Everything looks good. You buy fruits and vegetables that will just sit in your refrigerator and rot. the problem is a lot of people go to the grocery store on their way home from work and they have not had any food since lunch. Have some granola bars or an apple or something before you go into the grocery store. Just an idea.
Be well my friends.