-take what you need. Need more? get more.

-eat within growing seasons. bananas in Greenland have a much larger distance to travel, loss of stock increases.

-aesthetics, a wonky looking apple is less likely to make it into the grocery store(even if taste and nutritional value is no different)

I've heard that the "wonky looking" stuff typically gets processed into other products - apple sauce, e.g. and that some of those defects can actually increase the likelihood of a whole container developing mold.

https://twitter.com/sarahtaber_bww/status/108605509324443238...

Baby carrots are cut from bigger ugly looking carrots is another example.

> bananas in Greenland have a much larger distance to travel, loss of stock increases.

Bananas everywhere not tropical have this issue, but they're also picked very green and ripened locally. Container shipping is very efficient, so I'm not sure if this is really a problem. It's even possible that if you live near a major port, bananas have fewer emissions than apples that were trucked 400 miles.

Container ships are more efficient than trucks when measuring CO2 emissions, not so much by other emissions. The problem is that they use high sulfur "bunker oil" fuel. At least with trucks there is a clear path to electrification via renewable means; I don't know that there's a similar path for electrifying container ships due to the logistics involved.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Environmental_impact_of_shippi...

It's worth electrifying truck transport because truck engines have to be reasonably compact and trucks generally don't go far from the electrical grid so can recharge whenever necessary (and possibly in future while driving).

For a container ship this is inverted, so I'd expect CO2-neutral shipping to use minimally-processed biofuel in a turbine power plant. Or nuclear, of course.

It’s worth moving back to trains. trucking took over partly because it removed the infrastructure problem from the truck company. Which left it to governments to (not in some cases) maintain. trains are way more predictable too.

Sounds like removing trucks in the logistics chain as much as possible is the better option then? The trucks' parts and/or fuel (or crude) is also getting shipped using bunker oil fuel.

trucks do not replace container ships, bananas are boarded on ships at tropical countries and delivered to ports worldwide and then trucked to in-land warehouses.

definitely, tomatoes shipped from Mexico in some cases require less energy than green house grow in Quebec.

what’s more efficient? not eating tomatoes in Quebec.

> take what you need

Considering how bad many people are at managing their finances(USA credit card debt, I'm looking at you), it's no wonder people buy groceries that end up in the waste bin.

People in general aren't very good at two things:

Distinguishing needs from wants

and

Estimating how much of something is necessary to fulfill a need.

To be fair, shrinkflation of some products also now makes it hard to buy nice round amounts of things.

The recipe for a cake I made recently calls for 14 oz of maple syrup. I can buy it only in 12.7 oz bottles.

There is. The main thing is reducing one's food waste in general. That requires some mindfulness with regard to one's food purchasing, storage, preparation, and disposal habits. Unfortunately, IMO, not everyone seems able or willing to do so.

For those who can and are willing, there are a number of things you can do as an individual. They mainly come down to the three Rs environmentalists would have us apply to our waste stream in general: Reduce, Reuse, Recycle, ideally in that order.

Reduce: Focus on right-sizing your purchasing of perishables, so to minimize the amount of spoilage you have to throw away. Also work on right-sizing the amount of food you prepare, to minimize the amount of leftovers you have to throw away. Taking the time to do some meal planning for the week can help with this.

Deliberately purchase the ugly perishables in the grocery store. Often, meat near its sell-by date and misshapen vegetable produce are heavily discounted to incentivize its purchase so the store doesn't have to throw it away. Said discounted perishables are often perfectly functional. The lopsided apple still tastes like apple. You were going to marinate that flank steak anyway, which turns beef brownish in color, so who cares if a corner of it is turning from red to brown? Have means of preservation and storage can also help. Fruits can be dehydrated and turned from a perishable to a non-perishable that can be stored long term. Even a small chest freezer lets you keep the meat you know you won't get to this week.

Reuse: Find ways to recook your leftovers. Still have a chicken breast from dinner a couple days ago? Shredded chicken enchiladas. Instant ramen is kind of boring. Instant ramen with the leftover porkchop chopped up and mixed in is not only less boring flavor-wise, but is also more nutritious. The ham from Easter dinner makes a fine addition to the morning omlet.

Also the not-directly-edible portions of many foods can be put to use. Citrus rinds can be dried and used as a spice for appropriate recipes, or to add some extra flavor to your green tea. Meat bones can be boiled or simmered to make a broth or stock that can serve as the base for soups, gravies, and other foods. The pits of stone fruit can be roasted to destroy the cyanide-producing compounds and turn the kernels into a nutty snack. And so on.

Recycle: Your spoilage and non-edibles can be composted. This is actually better than the landfill. The decomposition that happens in a landfill is largely anerobic, and produces methane and other gases that have higher global warming potential than CO2. The decomposition that happens in a compost pile is aerobic. Yes, aerobic decomposition does emit CO2, but not all of the carbon added to the pile becomes CO2. A good deal of it becomes sequestered in the produced compost.

Even if you don't have the space to compost your food waste because you live in an apartment, you can still compost. Odds are, there's one or more compost collective in your city that will be happy to collect your food waste on the regular and provide a bin for you to use.