California’s residential composting program, which started final 12 months, is a gigantic enterprise meant to cut back the quantity of trash going into the state’s landfills and the climate-polluting gases the amenities launch.

Landfills are California’s third-largest supply of methane, a potent greenhouse gasoline that’s launched by banana peels, egg shells and different natural waste because it decomposes. Though this system is off to a rocky start, extra composting ought to start to curb a serious supply of emissions.

But what if we threw out much less meals to start with?

Assemblywoman Jacqui Irwin, with assist from the Natural Resources Defense Council and Californians Against Waste, introduced a bill this 12 months that might limit “sell by” dates and different labels that federal officers say usually immediate shoppers to needlessly discard canned items, bins of cereal and produce, whereas providing little information about food safety.

The invoice would require producers of perishable merchandise to make use of solely normal phrases for expiration dates — both “best if used by” in reference to freshness, or “use by” in reference to meals security. Those would change “sell by,” “best before,” “enjoy by” and different language that Irwin mentioned causes confusion about whether or not the meals has merely handed its peak or has really gone unhealthy.

“It’s completely meaningless to the consumer, and that’s why we’re ending up with all this food waste,” mentioned Irwin, whose district consists of Thousand Oaks and Simi Valley.

Opposition stalled Irwin’s invoice within the Legislature, so she requested CalRecycle, the state division that oversees waste administration, to mandate the identical requirements she has proposed. CalRecycle may take this step with out legislative approval, she mentioned.

According to the U.S. Department of Agriculture, greater than one-third of the meals offered within the nation finally ends up going to waste, partially as a result of shoppers throw away meals they assume has gone unhealthy when it hasn’t. There isn’t any federal legislation requiring uniformity in the best way perishable meals is dated, and for probably the most half, “dates are not an indicator of the product’s safety,” the division says.

The common American spends $1,300 a 12 months on meals that’s thrown away, mentioned Jenn Engstrom, the state director for the advocacy group CalPIRG.

“This is really common sense,” Engstrom mentioned of Irwin’s proposal to standardize meals relationship. “I think it’s something that a lot of consumers will really appreciate, just getting rid of that headache of trying to figure out when their food goes bad.”

Agriculture trade teams, together with the California Grocers Association, the California Farm Bureau and the Association of California Egg Farmers, oppose the proposal, based on state paperwork. Opponents have identified that in 2017, California adopted voluntary requirements for meals labeling that encourage using the identical “best if used by” or “use by” labels proposed by Irwin. They say that Irwin’s invoice would make it tough for firms to do enterprise throughout state strains, and that they assist efforts to undertake federal requirements as an alternative.

And earlier than you go, some good news

Karla Torres, a teen in Los Angeles, has created an 18th-century-inspired, Marie Antoinette-style gown, full with intricate lace, an angular corset and a hoop skirt with stacked layers of pink and gold.

And all the factor is made from duct tape.

Torres, who not too long ago graduated from a highschool in Boyle Heights, was a finalist for a scholarship contest sponsored by Duck Tape, a model of duct tape, The Los Angeles Times reports. She’s now hoping to win the $10,000 grand prize, which might assist finance her schooling at a California State University faculty this fall.

“I wouldn’t want my parents to struggle trying to find a way to pay for it,” Torres instructed the news outlet. “It would really help my parents.”