The Town of Mamaroneck, the Villages of Larchmont and Mamaroneck, and the Mamaroneck Union Free School District are launching a pioneering outreach and education campaign called “Love Your Food” designed to encourage residents to toss less, feed more, and protect our environment.
Residents are invited to the kick-off of the new initiative on Saturday, November 16, from 8:30-11:30 a.m. at the Down To Earth Farmers Market in Larchmont, corner of Chatsworth Avenue and Myrtle Blvd.
The campaign is funded by a three-year grant award from the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC). “….we are one of two municipalities in Westchester County to be awarded this grant to engage residents in reducing food waste,” says Mamaroneck Town Supervisor Nancy Seligson. “It has the potential to accomplish important results by enabling every member of our community to take an active role in advancing the well-being and quality of life for residents and neighbors of our Tri-Municipal area.”
“Love Your Food” is built around a three-phase approach to help consumers be more mindful about our food consumption. This process, Eat * Share * Compost the Rest, encourages us to enjoy more of the food we buy, re-direct excess food to people in need, and re-purpose food scraps to create nutrient-rich compost that helps grow more food.
According to the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) nearly 40% of the food available in the United States ends up in the waste cycle — approximately a pound per person per day — even as one in eight Americans face hunger. Purchasing food we do not eat, neglecting leftovers, rejecting less than perfect-looking produce, or scraping oversized portions off plates into the kitchen garbage are among the factors that cause 150,000 tons of food to end up in the trash every day. Not only does this waste household budgets and natural resources, it also contributes to climate change due to greenhouse gases that are emitted as food decays in landfills or is burned in incinerators.
Information about the campaign also will be available at the November 19 Mamaroneck Board of Education meeting, open to the public, in Mamaroneck High School’s Tiered Classroom, at 7 PM., as well as online at: www.LoveYourFoodNY.org.
