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What to do with Food Waste if you can’t Compost

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When we talk about waste, our minds naturally think about plastics – as they are ubiquitous. Surprisingly, two-thirds of the waste that we throw out of our homes every day is in the form of food scraps, vegetable peels, take-out remains, etc. – organic waste. You heard it right! Depending on the country you live in 30-70% of the waste that leaves your home is organic waste – basically compostable/edible and definitely not disposable.

Over 800 million people slept hungry in 2020. And here we are, throwing out a large percentage of the food we cook/produce every year.

This waste represents a lot of money down the drain, but that’s not the end of it. Discarded food is sent to landfills, where it rots and produces methane gas, which is the second most common greenhouse gas. Basically, wasting food is unethical, expensive, and also contributes to climate change.

In Permaculture Design, we often discuss the idea that “There is no ‘waste’, only resources that are not allocated efficiently.” If systems were designed correctly and resources allocated fairly and efficiently, we would not be wasting as much as we are now.

All of this may seem “too much to digest”, but the aim of this article is not to cause alarm. We all can make a few simple changes in our daily lives to reduce the amount of our organic waste. Read on to learn some efficient tips that might help save the world!

  1. Buy the ‘ugly’ produce – Vegetables and fruits that look soggy, dull or have patches are often tossed out by supermarkets since no one buys them. Don’t judge by looks and buy these “not too pretty” edibles. They have the same nutrients and taste. If you are picky about eating them directly, make a smoothie, a soup or a dessert to make the best use of it.
  2. Supplementation using egg shell– If you are someone who eats eggs for breakfast, you are in luck! Wash, dry and grind the shells when you have enough of them. The powdered form can be added to your dog’s/cat’s meal for additional calcium supplementation or to the soil of your plant babies. Egg shells will add small amounts of calcium, potassium and phosphorus, and help replace expensive store-bought fertilizers.
  3. Tea leaves– Green/black/milk, whatever might be your tea preference you can save yourself the cost of NPK fertilizers for plants because the tea leaves you sieve everyday have the exact same ingredients. We have around 8 cups of tea everyday as a family. Imagine the amount of tea leaves we were dumping into the bin each weak. Now we just dump the contents of the strainer into a bowl and let them dry. Every Sunday, I go out and add these to my plants. In case I have excess leaves I just dump it on the ground and cover it with some soil. Additional humus for the soil and additional space in the dustbin!
  4. Coffee grounds– Don’t feel left out if you are a coffee person. We love coffee and the grounds it leaves behind. You can use them as fertilizers just like tea leaves, but coffee grounds are much more versatile and have a lot more uses. You can fill a bowl and leave it in the room to repel insects and foul smells. You can mix it with coconut oil/honey and use it as a body scrub, eliminating the need to buy such products ever again. It can also be used it to clean wooden furniture, fireplaces, pots, and pans. Basically, make the best of ‘waste’ before you throw it out.
  1. Feed someone– If composting is not your cup of tea, look out for a cattle farm nearby. This is quicker than composting and saves the cattle owner tons of money. Save up all your vegetable and fruit peels for 3-5 days in the freezer. If you are able to convince your neighborhood to do this, you can ask the farm owner to send someone twice a week to collect all the food scraps. This is actually nutritious feed for the cattle who are otherwise fed only hay or grains. Later on, their dung is directly used as fertilizer. A seamless, closed-loop process!If you have stray animals in your locality, feed all the table leftovers to them. You will make their day and reduce burden on a landfill.
  2. Use all water – Instead of watering your plants with fresh water use all the starch water you otherwise throw out. Water used to soak potatoes, rice, pasta etc. is all good for plants!
  3. Zero waste cooking – Instead of cooking a new meal, designate at least one dinner each week as a “use-it-up” meal. Look around for leftovers and other food that might otherwise get overlooked. Mix things up, get creative, and have a good meal! When cooking, use every piece of whatever food you’re cooking with, whenever possible.  Skins, leaves, and stems of lots of vegetables can be eaten but are usually thrown out. Do a little research to learn what you can do with all that food you thought was useless. For example, the stems of broccoli and cauliflower taste yummy if sautéed. Add vegetable/meat scraps to homemade stocks to be as efficient as possible. You can use stale bread, old biscuits, turn croissants into breadcrumbs or olive oil drizzled croutons. The possibilities are endless.
  1. Practice FIFO (First in, first out) – Whatever you bought last week, eat that before you eat something you bought last night. You can also create an “eat me first” section in your refrigerator for quick-to-expire ingredients and foods.

All these tricks will help you become more mindful, create some closed-loop nutrient systems, and understand the efficiency of multifunctionality in daily life. All these are primary Principles of Permaculture Design, which can be adapted to each and every walk of life. If you want to know more, sign up for the official Permaculture Design Certificate Course (PDC Course) with 72-hours worth of content or take the PDC introductory course to satisfy your curiosity!

help save the world with Permaculture Education

Saniya Malhotra is a Research Coordinator with the International Permaculture Education Center.

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Activism

How Ethical Community Leaders Are Driving Systemic Change Around the World

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Mobilized News Editorial Feature

At a time when cynicism toward politics is high and global systems appear rigged against the most vulnerable, a new kind of leadership is taking root—not in the corridors of power, but in the streets, villages, neighborhoods, and digital commons.

These leaders don’t wear suits or sit on high stages. They are midwives, farmers, youth mentors, solar tech trainers, community organizers, and elders. They listen more than they speak. They build with others, not for others. And they are rewriting the very definition of what it means to lead in the 21st century.

This is the story of ethical community leadership—a global groundswell of people committed to systemic change, rooted in justice, accountability, care, and regeneration. And it’s working.

Mobilized News Editorial Feature

 A Shift from Top-Down to Bottom-Up

In India’s Maharashtra state, a women-led collective called Swayam Shikshan Prayog has empowered over 100,000 rural women to lead in climate-resilient farming, health, and education. Their model? Train women farmers as decision-makers—not beneficiaries—while restoring ecological health.

In Colombia, the Guardians of the Atrato River, a court-recognized legal entity composed of Indigenous and Afro-descendant community leaders, have been granted rights to represent the river in court—a historic case of environmental personhood anchored in ancestral leadership and ecological stewardship.

In Jackson, Mississippi, Cooperation Jackson is building a community-controlled network of cooperatives, housing, and alternative education, rooted in Black liberation and economic democracy. Their People’s Assembly is a living example of participatory governance done right.

In Nairobi’s Mukuru informal settlement, Muungano wa Wanavijiji—a grassroots federation of the urban poor—is redefining slum upgrading by organizing communities to map their own infrastructure, negotiate land rights, and plan their own future.

 What Makes Ethical Community Leadership Different?

Ethical leadership isn’t just about transparency or good intentions. It’s a practice rooted in core values and systems literacy. These leaders:

  • Lead by listening: They don’t impose solutions—they co-create them.
  • Center the most affected: They trust the wisdom of the marginalized.
  • Build institutions of care: From food sovereignty networks to mutual aid funds, they organize safety nets from the ground up.
  • Disrupt extractive systems: Whether confronting colonized land systems, corrupt governance, or ecological destruction, they take aim at root causes—not just symptoms.
  • Regenerate, not replicate: They don’t scale at the cost of soul. They grow like a forest—locally resilient, globally connected.

This is not nonprofit reformism or political branding. It’s a radical act of public trust-building.

 Real Systems Change in Action

Health: Community First

In Rwanda, community health workers—trained by and from their own villages—have helped reduce child mortality by more than 60% in just over a decade. These leaders don’t wait for the state to catch up; they move with their people.

Food Systems: Sovereignty Over Charity

In Hawai’i, the Hoʻoulu ʻĀina initiative is reconnecting communities to ancestral agroforestry, healing land while feeding families. In Brazil’s favelas, food delivery networks are run by residents, for residents—creating not just meals, but food dignity.

Justice: Accountability from the Ground Up

In Minneapolis, post-George Floyd, Black-led initiatives like Reclaim the Block and MPD150 have pushed for alternatives to policing rooted in care and prevention. Their strategy? Community investment, youth outreach, and trauma healing as public safety.

Climate: Regeneration Through Trust

In Vanuatu, traditional leaders and youth climate organizers sit together in councils to manage marine protected areas, combining indigenous law with modern resilience science.

 Lessons for the World

  1. The Global South Leads: Many of the most effective, transformative models are being pioneered outside the Western gaze—by communities long overlooked.
  2. Solutions Don’t Need to Be Scaled to Be Powerful: Replication is not always the goal. What matters is depth, not just breadth.
  3. Leadership Is a Practice, Not a Position: Ethical leaders are often invisible to media and policy circles—but central to movements that actually work.
  4. Narrative Is a Tool of Liberation: These leaders know that changing the story changes the system. They reclaim history, identity, and imagination.

Who Are Some of Today’s Ethical Leaders?

  • Alicia Wallace – Activist from the Bahamas blending gender justice and climate action.
  • Bayo Akomolafe – Nigerian philosopher reframing leadership as “becoming fugitive” from oppressive norms.
  • Naomi Klein – Author and organizer exposing the intersections of capitalism, climate, and colonialism.
  • Rowan White – Mohawk seedkeeper restoring Indigenous seed sovereignty across Turtle Island.
  • Raj Patel – Economist and activist co-building food justice networks that dismantle corporate agriculture.

These voices—and countless more unnamed—form the invisible architecture of a better future.

What Comes Next?

If ethical leadership teaches us anything, it’s this:

Change doesn’t come from permission. It comes from community.

To support ethical community leadership where you are:

  • Invest in grassroots organizations, not just polished NGOs.
  • Create spaces for youth and elders to lead together.
  • Shift from “impact metrics” to long-term trust and resilience.
  • Design funding systems that support depth over speed.
  • Follow the leadership of those most impacted—not just those most credentialed.

A New Ethic for Our Times

In every region, on every continent, ethical community leaders are showing what is possible when power is relational, not transactional. When decisions are made in circles, not pyramids. When justice is lived, not theorized.

They are not waiting for permission.
They are not waiting for the system to fix itself.
They are building new systems—right now.

And the world is watching.   Now it’s our turn to follow their lead.

“If you want to go fast, go alone. If you want to go far, go together. If you want to go deeper, build trust first.”
— Ancestral proverb, carried by ethical leaders everywhere

 

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COMMUNITIES

FLIP THE SCRIPT: DECOLONIZE THE FUTURE

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COMMUNITIES

FLIP THE SCRIPT: WE ARE THE WEB

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