Throw To Grow (Video)

Food waste is one of the biggest environmental problems you never heard about.

According to the EPA, Americans throw out more than 34 million tons of food each year. Ninety-seven percent of this goes to landfill, where it becomes toxic sludge that steals life-giving nutrients from the soil.

It's a cycle that's totally contrary to the method used by nature, and Jim DiCarlo is one individual who thinks he might be able to turn that around.

Next month DiCarlo hopes to launch Throw To Grow, a pilot project that will transform commercial quantities of food waste (including meat, dairy and bones) into grade-A food-growing soil, using an anaerobic fermentation process called "the Bokashi fermentation method." If this pilot is successful, DiCarlo hopes one day the Bokashi method will become the norm, diverting millions of tons of toxic waste away from landfill in a win-win process much closer to what nature intended.

TTG already has nearly $10,000 pledged, but it needs one last push from people who see the big-picture possibilities of the project. You can donate to the Kickstarter here, as well as find out more. (Top-level donators get a free trip to Hawaii, with an all-expenses-included stay on Oahu's blissful north shore. Just sayin'.)

If you're interested in learning more about recycling your food waste, a Bokashi bucket makes it possible to do so, odor-free, in your own home. Learn more at Jim's website, Each One Teach One Farms.