On a breezy spring Friday in the Edge District, over 100 Memphians gathered at Memphis Made Brewing and The Ravine to celebrate Food Waste Prevention Week with Love Food Hate Waste Memphis – an evening filled with good food, local flavor, and actionable ways to fight food waste.
Hosted by Project Green Fork, the event combined fun and education to spotlight the impact of everyday food choices. From trivia and culinary demos to a near-zero waste footprint, Love Food Hate Waste proved that sustainability can be both simple and celebratory.
Zero waste in action
Zero waste aims to minimize the amount of waste sent to landfills by maximizing composting, recycling, and other diversion methods. The numbers from Love Food Hate Waste speak for themselves:
- Compostables: 10.95 lbs
- Recycling: 1.06 lbs
- Landfill: 0.12 lbs
- Total event waste: 12.13 lbs
That’s a 99% waste diversion rate, far surpassing the typical 90% threshold often considered “zero waste,” – which couldn’t have been achieved without intention, community participation, and help from our partners, The Compost Fairy and Get Green Recycleworks.
Throughout the evening, PGF staff and volunteers helped attendees sort their waste correctly. By composting food scraps and cutlery, recycling packaging, and avoiding single-use plastics, the collective small actions of the crowd resulted in a significant impact.
Food, fun, and local flavor
Early birds were rewarded with a free beer or non-alcoholic beverage from Memphis Made and a refreshing mini-pop from local favorite, Mempops. Two food vendors, Good Groceries and Flip Side Asia, served up meals that showed sustainable practices and delicious food can go hand in hand.
Meanwhile, a lively food waste trivia game complete with prizes kept the crowd engaged and challenged common assumptions about expiration dates, food storage, and the environmental impact of food waste. A live culinary demo also inspired attendees to rethink what belongs in the trash, transforming often-discarded kitchen scraps into a crowd-pleasing snack.
Building a more sustainable Memphis
Love Food Hate Waste wasn’t just a celebration – it was a call to action. The event gave attendees practical tips they could take home, from smarter food storage and meal planning to composting and donating leftovers. It also highlighted the broader efforts happening across the city to reduce food waste and keep valuable resources out of landfills.
A huge thank you to everyone who attended, our participating vendors, Memphis Made Brewing for hosting, and our partners Get Food Smart Tennessee, The Compost Fairy, and Get Green Recycleworks in making Love Food Hate Waste such a success!
Stay tuned for future community events and education opportunities from Project Green Fork – and in the meantime, keep loving food and hating waste.
