Thanksgiving, a holiday filled with family, good food, and laughs. Many households take the opportunity to host large dinners with family and friends to celebrate gratitude upon one another. Yet the day’s environmental impact may still be significant with serving Thanksgiving-size feasts to your guests. Here are a few ways to tackle excessive waste at your Thanksgiving table this year!

1. Before grocery shopping, scan your kitchen to see what’s already there. You may already have brown sugar and marshmallows from last year’s meal, and a quick check will help avoid redundant and unnecessarily wasteful purchases. You can also ask family and friends if they have any spare ingredients you can use for dinner.

2. Make a shopping list with quantities, and buy only as much as you need. Bring reusable bags, and avoid buying plastic plates or utensils. Yes, you may end up with a pile of dishes, but you are reducing the amount of waste ending up in landfills!

3. Avoid single-use decorations; if gourds are used as centrepieces, don’t forget to eat them eventually. After the meal, offer your guests to take some home, drop off leftovers to your neighbours, contact a homeless shelter to see if it’ll accept cooked food or spare ingredients, and donate unopened perishables to a food bank (canned ingredients). Doing this avoids ingredients/food from getting expired and ending up in the trash. 

Source: https://www.nytimes.com/2020/11/16/dining/thanksgiving-food-waste.html