In a new op-ed article in the Los Angeles Times, Dana Gunders, the director of ReFED, offers a road map to climate change solutions through none other than food waste. Not only offering solutions, Gunders outlines the costs as well as returns, making sure to emphasize the beneficial impacts of action. All of this provides the fundamental structure for actions that the Biden administration should take to address climate change. When it comes to finding climate change solutions, we should at least start by looking at food waste. As outlined in Gunder’s article, food waste is responsible for abou ..read more

When it comes to food waste, finding some good hard numbers can be difficult. It feels like the most available information is always that about how 40% of food is thrown away each year, that people throw out around 25% of the food they bring home from the grocery store, or that 6% of our global greenhouse gasses are produced by food waste. While these are great numbers to know, they’re often impersonal and don’t give us an idea of how else our decisions might make an impact or the damage equivalent. This is where ReFED comes into play. ReFED is a nonprofit that looks to create better solutions ..read more

When it comes to food waste, we at Produce Mate believe that creating a community of food waste thinkers is essential. Because of this, we like to talk about and promote pieces of food knowledge that we find. One of the cooler pieces that we found recently was written by Kristine Solomon over at thehealthy.com titled “20 Produce Mistakes You Didn’t Know You Were Making.” This article is 100% worth the read and gives so many great insights into commonly mistaken concepts related to food and food waste. Not only does Solomon go into the mistakes that we all make, but she also offers other resou ..read more

As everyone knows, we take food waste extremely seriously here at Produce Mate. Whether it’s domestically or commercially produced, we think that food waste is one of the bigger problems that we need to look into when trying to find solutions for climate change. By eliminating the food that is wasted, we would be able to reduce the number of greenhouse gases that enter the atmosphere by up to 11%. This is a tremendous amount for a solution that feels so simple and logical. Less food being thrown away, who would want to go against that?          &nbs ..read more

Here at Produce Mate, we’re once again happy to feature some papers written by local college students attending the University of Portland. This week we will feature a paper written by Hannah McCord regarding kale. Hannah takes a unique approach to talking about food, using the first person to show what it may look like from the perspective of kale. Through the lens of food, Hannah is able to show the connections that the food we eat has many social and cultural ties to the world around us. Enjoy reading and make sure to come by next week for another student written article. Hi! I’m kale, hist ..read more

Life has changed a lot this past year. Now we go to school in our bedrooms, wear masks in public, and social distance from friends and family. Even though we’re living through isolating times, some people have taken this pandemic as an opportunity to explore new topics; building businesses, going on adventures, partaking in life-changing research, and so much more. This is the message for the upcoming TedX event MEANWHILE hosted by the University of Washington. Among the 10 presenters is our own CEO, Dagan Kay. His talk titled “Surplus Food: Why I’m an Optimist About Climate Change” will expl ..read more

We at Produce Mate have been working tirelessly to get our products and information out there. Whether it’s working with local non-profits or educating with online materials, we want to help everyone do better when it comes to food waste. We are always excited to hear about what others have to say about us and to really build a community around food waste. Make sure to check out our most recent feature here. As always, make sure to stay up to date with everything Produce Mate and food waste related here at producemate.com and feel free to comment or share what you think! Give your fruits and v ..read more

With the welcoming of the new year, there is no better time to start changing your food waste habits at home. Whether it’s what you’re eating, how you’re preparing it, or how you’re avoiding throwing it away, being more conscious of how you view food is a great goal for 2021! Here are a few great tips and tricks to not only help you reduce the amount of food you are wasting, but to save some more money and give your fruits and veggies the life that they deserve. 1. Only buy what you will eat One reason that so much food goes to waste at home is because people do not plan properly for how much ..read more

One percent. For many this is an insignificant amount that is usually attributed to the smallest or the least significant part. But what if that 1% could mean something more? What if 1% could make all the difference? What if we all put together 1% and made something out of what some people consider to be nothing. This is what 1% for the Planet does. 1% for the Planet has created a diverse network of members who all share a similar mission. Giving back to the planet that they have taken from. The core of 1% for the Planet involves giving 1% of all sales to a nonprofit of the business’s choice ..read more