The City of Houston is continuing their food waste reduction this year by providing a drop off location for pumpkins in hopes of reducing the number of pumpkins that end up in the landfill. They utilize these fall decorations to compost them into fertilizer. Last year’s six-week pilot program diverted more than 14,000 pounds of food waste from landfills. Houston hopes that this program will be the start of regular food waste reduction services offered by the city. With that being said, the waste department is extremely under-resourced, making it difficult to progress this initiative. Sallie Alcorn, member of Houston City Council, explains the importance of educating the residents so everyone can contribute to help departments such as the Solid Waste Management Department in combatting food waste. In my opinion, simple programs like these to collect food waste, especially on holidays where there is an abundance of food being thrown away, is a good idea to minimize the surges of food waste during holiday times.
