THE GREEN DINING ALLIANCE A program of St

THE GREEN DINING ALLIANCE A program of St. Louis Earth Day

The GDA Core Concepts - Styrofoam Ban - Single Stream Recycling - Phase in Energy Efficient Lighting - Set Waste Diversion Goals

Above and Beyond: Energy/Water Efficiency LEED Certified Water Reduction Solar Panels

Above and Beyond: Urban Farms Pollinator Plants Bee-houses Chickens

Above and Beyond: Urban Farms Vertical Aeroponic Towers Heirloom Tomatoes Fruit Trees and Melons

Above and Beyond: Traditional Farms Goats and Cows Greenhouses Acres of Crops

Above and Beyond: Composting Self Composting Commercial Composting on the Farm

Composting and the EPA’s Food Recovery Challenge: • America wastes nearly 50% of their food. • 1 in 7 Americans are food insecure. • Diverting food waste into healthy compost helps to creates more food. • The EPA set a goal to eliminate 50% of food waste by 2030 by encouraging institutions, restaurants, and grocery stores to follow the Food Recovery Hierarchy.

Food Recovery and Climate Change • Food waste accounts for 18% of the waste-stream sent to landfills. • Organic material decomposes in landfills through anaerobic digestion, creating methane in the process. • 18% of methane emissions come from landfills. • Methane is a greenhouse gas with 25 times the warming potential of CO 2, although it doesn’t last as long in the atmosphere, it packs a heavy punch. • This is a solvable problem.

Above and Beyond: GDA and Food Recovery • GDA restaurants are encouraged to compost, but there aren’t many options for commercial composting in St. Louis. • Over 90 cities, including San Francisco, Portland, and Seattle, offer curbside municipal composting, while others, like Cambridge and Austin, have begun pilot programs to test the system. • Providing infrastructure would help make the choice easy for restaurants, grocery stores, institutions, and households. • What to do in the meantime? Start a pile, and ask your favorite restaurants to start a composting program!

Recycling On the Go

Sources • https: //www 3. epa. gov/region 9/waste/features/foodtoenergy/food-waste. html • http: //www. ers. usda. gov/topics/food-nutrition-assistance/food-security-in-theus/key-statistics-graphics. aspx • https: //www. epa. gov/ghgemissions/understanding-global-warming-potentials • https: //www. ipcc. ch/publications_and_data/ar 4/wg 1/en/ch 2 s 2 -10 -2. html • http: //www. governing. com/topics/energy-env/gov-curbside-composting-added-to -major-city. html

A quick game:

Contacts: Bob Henkel Jenn De. Rose St. Louis Earth Day Program Director Green Dining Alliance Program Manager 314 -651 -7130 314 -780 -6082 rog. manager@stlouisearthday. org jenn. derose@greendiningalliance. org stlouisearthday. org greendiningalliance. org