Food, Culture, and Loss

June 19, 2018

June 19, 2018


"If I'm an advocate for anything, it's to move.

As far as you can, as much as you can.

Across the ocean, or simply across the river.

Walk in someone else's shoes or at least eat their food."

                             

 - Anthony Bourdain

 

The world suffered a great loss with the death of Anthony Bourdain earlier this month. Through his television shows, interviews, books, and public speaking engagements, Bourdain provided us with a taste of a wider world. Most importantly, while he introduced us to impressive diversities of cuisines, cultures, and people, he also demonstrated that through cooking and sharing meals, all of the world’s people have much in common.


Bourdain was an enthusiastic advocate of traveling and exploring the world through the local cuisine of the places we visit. I had the privilege of hearing Bourdain speak a couple of years ago, and he articulated this simple yet profound message throughout his talk.

He observed that when many Americans travel, they eat at their hotels or even the fast food joints that have become ubiquitous around the world. He, on the other hand, encouraged everyone to explore the places we visit through tasting their local food, and by “eating what the locals eat” to fully immerse ourselves in our travel experiences.


Through the simple act of sharing a meal, we become more accepting of others and their cultures. Watching Bourdain explore countries around the world, including in the Middle East and Africa, we realize he brought us a better understanding of these countries, a greater acceptance of our differences, and celebration of our similarities. He was a fabulous storyteller who could bring us a country’s history and culture to life through its food.


He spoke out against prejudice and became a voice for marginalized populations. He advocated for better working conditions for restaurant employees, the need to truly address drug addiction and fund workable solutions for recovery, and was a vocal supporter of the “me too” movement.


Above all he was honest and unwavering in his support of all cultures and diversity.


Bourdain spoke of food waste as “an issue that goes fundamentally against my instincts as a longtime working cook and chef, where we were taught from the very beginning that one just does not and cannot and must not waste food." In 2017, he produced WASTED! The Story of Food Waste.


The film’s website states that WASTED! “aims to change the way people buy, cook, recycle, and eat food.” Having viewed the film in a room filled with college students, I believe it successfully reaches its goals. Food waste is discussed through interviews with chefs, including Bourdain, Dan Barber, Massimo Bottura, and Danny Bowien.


WASTED! explores the issues most of us in materials management are familiar with—the impacts of food waste and its contribution to climate change. Most importantly, the film demonstrates concrete actions we can all take to reduce food waste and make a difference. The film presents companies such as Toast Ale, an English company which brews beer from unsold loaves of bread from bakeries, and unused crusts from sandwich makers. All profits made by Toast Ale go to Feedback, an environmental charity campaigning to end food waste.


The film explores how throughout Japan, food scraps are collected and used for livestock feed—farmers are heard bragging about how their particular blend of food scraps makes for the best tasting meat. The collection of food waste for anaerobic digestion occurs throughout South Korea, reducing disposal needs and helping to meet the country’s energy needs.


WASTED! points to the responsibility we all have to reduce and divert wasted food. As Bourdain states, "It begins in a sense with, how do we value the things we eat? It begins with just starting to pay attention to how much food you're buying, how much you are actually using, what you are doing with it."


There are many great people who have left their mark on the world, Anthony Bourdain is indeed one of them.



By Athena Lee Bradley


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August 29, 2025
Northeast Recycling Council (NERC) Publishes 25 th Report Marking Six Years of Quarterly Data
By Recycled Materials Association July 29, 2025
The Northeast Recycling Council (NERC) has opened the 2025 Emerging Professionals (EP) Program . Now, in its third year, the program provides professionals who are new to the field of recycling, sustainability, and environmental stewardship with discounted access to NERC’s Conference and Foundations Course, sponsored by their employer organization. EPs gain valuable connections with seasoned industry professionals and peers while engaging in discussions on current trends, challenges, and innovations shaping the industry. This program is designed for those with three or fewer years of experience. “This year, EPs also receive a discount to our Foundations of Sustainable Materials Management course (a live, instructor-led training) developed to provide the key building blocks for understanding the industry,” said Mariane Medeiros, Senior Project Manager at NERC. “It’s a great way to close the loop: gaining both a strong technical foundation and real-world connections in one experience.” Read and Learn More.
By Chaz Miller June 30, 2025
Recycling coordinators know that some people and locations are stubbornly indifferent to recycling. COVID has ruptured civic values and behavior. Creating a recycling culture is harder than ever. Producers know how to sell their products. Now they need to learn how to sell recycling. On July 1, Oregon’s packaging and paper extended producer responsibility (EPR) program begins operating. This will be a first in our country. “Producers”, instead of local governments or private citizens, will be paying to recycle packages and paper products. Colorado’s program begins operating early in 2026. For years we have heard the theory of how packaging EPR will work. At last, we will get results. Five other states also have laws. Their programs should all be operating by 2030. None of the state laws have identical requirements. The Circular Action Alliance, the “producer responsibility organization” responsible for managing the program in most of those states, knows it has a lot on its plate. EPR laws are not new to the U.S. Thirty-two states already have laws that cover a wide variety of products such as electronics, paint, mattresses, batteries, etc. Those laws are relatively simple. Most cover one product. The producer group is a small number of companies. Goals and programs are focused and narrow. They are a mixed bag of success and failure. Packaging EPR is far more complex. The number of covered products is way higher. Thousands of companies are paying for these programs. Goals are challenging. Some are impossible to meet. In addition, local governments treat recycling as a normal service. Their residents will still call them if their recyclables aren’t picked up. It probably hasn’t helped that advocates tout EPR as the solution for recycling’s problems. We are told we will have more collection and better processing with higher recycling rates. Markets will improve and even stabilize. Some of this will happen, but not all. Collection and processing should go smoothly in Oregon. The state has high expectations for recycling. I have no doubt recycling will increase. Collection programs will blanket the state, giving more households the opportunity to recycle. I’m not sure, though, how much of an increase we will see. Recycling coordinators know that some people and locations are stubbornly indifferent to recycling. COVID has ruptured civic values and behavior. Creating a recycling culture is harder than ever. Producers know how to sell their products. Now they need to learn how to sell recycling. Another challenge is the “responsible end market” requirements. You’ve probably seen pictures of overseas dumps created by unscrupulous or just naïve plastics “recyclers”. In response, Oregon and the other states are requiring sellers and end markets to prove they are “responsible”. They must provide information about who and where they are, how they operate, how much was actually recycled, and more. Recycling end markets pushed back. Paper and metals recyclers argue they shouldn’t be covered. They don’t cause those problems. As for plastics, the general manager of one of America’s largest plastics recycling companies said his company now spends time and money gathering data and filling out forms to prove they’re “responsible”. His virgin resin competitors don’t have to. Ironically, we now import more plastics for recycling than we export. Maybe those countries should impose similar requirements on their plastics recyclers. Colorado faces unique problems. The mountain state is large. Its population is concentrated on the I-25 corridor running north and south through Denver with low population density elsewhere. Recycling collection and processing is limited as are end markets. To make matters worse, slightly more than half of its households use “subscription” services for waste and recycling collection. Those services are funded by the households, not by taxpayers. EPR doesn’t have this experience in other countries. Colorado gets to blaze this trail. The second state to go live poses substantive challenges for producers. The good news for both states? Local governments that pay for recycling collection and processing will see most of those costs go away. Consumers are unlikely to see prices rise, for now. National companies will simply spread their costs among all 50 states. Local and regional producers, unfortunately, don’t have that advantage. As for improved markets, remember that recyclables are and always will be commodities subject to the ups and downs of the economy. I don’t see substantive changes in recycling markets unless the producer group’s members try to manipulate markets to their own advantage. 2025 saw new laws and changes to existing laws. Maryland and Washington became the sixth and seventh packaging EPR states. At the same time, California is rewriting its regulations and Maine significantly revised its law. Some of these changes narrowed EPR’s scope to the dismay of advocates. I’m a member of Maryland’s EPR Advisory Council. We’ve been meeting for a year, discussing the Needs Assessment and now our new law. We have our own unique set of challenges. We also have a big advantage. We can learn from Oregon’s and Colorado’s experiences. Tune in next year to learn how we are progressing. Read on Waste360.