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Tennessee's inaugural Food Waste Awareness Week
In April, we held Tennessee's inaugural Food Waste Awareness Week! It was an amazing week full of education and outreach about reducing food waste, donating food, composting, and everything in between and we were able to reach over 617,000 people! We shared resources, videos highlighting efforts of a few organizations and business in Tennessee, held a statewide food drive, and hosted Bread to Tap events across the state in partnership with organizations, breweries, and bakeries.
We have seen a lot of growth in the area of food waste in Tennessee over the past several years and were still amazed at the turnout for this week. So much great information was shared throughout the week, and the engagement among various people, organizations, and businesses across the state truly showed how far we've come.
During the week, we highlighted efforts from Kroger, The Society of St. Andrew, and The Compost Company through videos that also included ways that Tennesseans can do their part. Check those out on our Youtube account HERE. We also did a daily Food Hero Photo Challenge to go along with each day. You can find those on our Instagram page HERE.
Of course we can't forget the fun food waste memes!
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During the week, we worked with the UT Instutute for Agriculture and UT Ag Extension Agency Offices across the state to host a statewide food drive. Food donations collected, went to local food banks and pantries. Thanks to the generosity of many, we collected 11,915 pounds of food!! This translates into 10,772 meals that will be provided to Tennesseans who are food insecure. Thank you all for participating!
We finished out the week with four Bread to Tap events across the state in Memphis, Nashville, Chattanooga, and Knoxville. We partnered with local breweries, bakeries, and organizations to host events that promoted reducing food waste, and educate Tennesseans on the services and resources available to them. The breweries used bread from local bakeries, that would have otherwise gone to waste to make a specialty craft beer. Shoutout to Memphis Made Brewery, Bring it Food Hub, Clean Memphis, Jackalope Brewing Company, Dozen Bakery, The Nashville Food Project, Naked River Brewing, Niedlov's Bakery, green|spaces, Crafty Bastard Brewery, Paysan Bread, and the City of Knoxville for helping us make it happen! We had over 600 people attend events!
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World Bee Day is on Friday, May 20th. Bee Day helps raise awareness about the threats to pollinators like bees by human activities. Bees not only contribute to the pollination of wildflowers, but also to the pollination of agricultural crops. Bees and other pollinators pollinate an estimated 90% of flowering plants and 70% of the world’s main crops. The economic contributions of bees are also invaluable. According to the United States Department of Agriculture, the pollination of the honey bee alone is valued above $14 billion a year.
Tennessee State Park’s Honey Project helps promote pollinator and environmental health in our parks, provide an experiential learning opportunity for visitors, and produces sweet treats for our guests. Since its establishment, the Honey Project has installed honey bee hives at 39 state parks across Tennessee with at least two hives at each park. Parks bottle and sell the honey in state park gift shops based on their hive's production.
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| Are you a small business that needs help with environmental regulations? The Small Business Environmental Assistance Program(SBEAP) is here to help small businesses! They provide free, confidential, technical assistance on all environmental questions that affect small businesses.
Part of the TN Department of Environment and Conservation, the SBEAP provides a one-stop contact. for questions about permitting, regulations, and can help out with technical questions such as calculations and recordkeeping. The SBEAP can also act as the go-between so that a small business can ask a question in confidence that the SBEAP can then pose to the regulatory divisions. And if there is an expert in a division or sometimes even another department that a business should really be talking to, they can try to find the specific person to put a small business in touch with. Contact the SBEAP at 800-734-3619 or BGSBEAP@tn.gov if you need help or have questions.
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TGSP Highlight
NWI Nashville, an NWI family company, has a long history in the machining, assembly, and processing of large aircraft assemblies. In 2021, the facility consumed well over 97 million gallons of water with a reuse of more than 92 million gallons. That is an annual reuse rate of over 94%, with the facility achieving water recovery rate over 97% during some months. Learn more about NWI's sustainability efforts in April's TGSP Member Highlight below.
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Through TDEC’s Tennessee College/Underserved Community Partnership Program (TN CUPP), Lemoyne-Owen College (LOC) students are conducting lead testing outreach to 185 licensed childcare facilities located in underserved areas of Shelby County. Students are offering free lead testing services and providing lead educational materials to childcare facilities. If remedial action is needed due to elevated lead levels, childcare providers can apply for a mini grant administered in partnership with Tennessee Department of Human Services and the Community Foundation of Middle Tennessee.
Lead is a toxic metal that can be harmful to human health when ingested. Young children under the age of six years old are particularly sensitive to the effects of lead because their bodies are still undergoing development. Through these partnerships and collaborative efforts, the overall mission is to reduce young children’s lead exposure from drinking water sources. To learn more about free lead testing services, click here.
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Bulgogi + eggplant = sweet and salt, and plenty of flavor! Check out the recipe from bon appetit.
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Conferences/Workshops/Training Opportunities
May 10-13, 2022
Stay tuned as we receive updates about upcoming conferences.
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