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How To Use Food Scraps: 8 Ways To Reuse Leftover Foods

8 Ways To Make Good Use Of Leftover Foods

Tossing food scraps in the trash is an incredible waste -- especially when you can reuse leftovers around the house.

Reusing food odds and ends would do a big favour for the planet, not to mention our wallets and our health, Ed Bruske of DC Urban Gardeners advises in the video above.

“Did you know that 25 per cent of everything we send to the landfill is kitchen scraps like this?" he says, while emptying out a compost bin.

Around 40 per cent of Canadian food is tossed out, valued at $27 billion, a George Morris Centre study reported. And when food rots in landfills, it produces methane, a greenhouse gas that contributes to climate change, notes Environment Canada.

Saving your scraps from landfills can cut down on that methane production, so Bruske recommends composting any organic material around the house for your garden, and shows you how in the video above.

There's more than one way to reuse your refuse, though. Have you ever considered using egg shells to clean your kitchen drain, or bananas to shine your shoes? These solutions and many more can help you get extra use from your leftovers -- just don't forget to compost afterwards.

SHOE SHINE

HOW TO USE FOOD SCRAPS

CORRECTION: A previous version of this text stated "Canadians toss out around 40 per cent of our food each year." In fact, the study states that 40 per cent of Canadian food is being thrown out.

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