Food that gets thrown in the garbage bin goes to a landfill where it decomposes and in the process releases a very powerful greenhouse gas called Methane. This is no small problem. About 8-10% of all greenhouse gasses produced annually are due to food waste. That’s more than 2x the emissions from the entire aviation industry! What’s even more frustrating is that about 50% of all food waste happens at the home. Some grocery chains are starting to realize they have the power to think differently about their role in this problem by removing ‘best before’ dates from packaging. This idea was spurred with the realization that over 70% of the food thrown out each year could have been eaten. Best before dates are a major driver of consumer food waste problem because frankly, they’re confusing. ‘Best before’ actually refer to the food’s quality, not safety, and the dates are often misleading. Check out link in our bio for a really interesting article about how ‘best before’ dates emerged after WWII, and how they’ve come to be such a major contributor to climate change