STERLING HEIGHTS, Mich. – Here’s something that might surprise you -- the average Michigander spends nearly $800 a year on food they never eat.
For a family of four, that number jumps to about $3,000.
And it’s not just hitting your wallet; all that wasted food ends up in a landfill, where it releases harmful greenhouse gases into the air.
In Michigan, about 2 billion pounds of food waste are generated every single year, and in Sterling Heights, it’s about 50 million pounds a year.
But the city is doing something about it.
It’s called “Make Food Not Waste,” a new pilot program that gives residents a practical way to compost food scraps, reduce waste, and save money.
Alexis Weinberg, the sustainability planner for Sterling Heights, and Sarah Fisher, sustainability commission chair for the city, joined Local 4 Live to talk about the program.
You can watch the full interview in the video at the beginning of this article.