Replate

Who can guess what percentage of perfectly good food goes to waste in the United States?
Come on, give it your best shot....

If you said roughly half (40-50%), then you're right on, according to researchers at the University of Arizona. That's $590 per year of money wasted on food in an average family of four. Nationwide, that's 43 billion.
per year.
Oh, and did I mention these statistics are from an article written in 2004?

So what's an over-consumptive society to do?
One group of individuals in San Fransisco, CA, came up with a simple response. They noticed unwanted leftovers being left next to garbage cans when people couldn't find someone to give them away to. Now, the group has made it into a movement, coining the term "replate- to place unwanted leftovers, typically in a doggie bag, on top of the nearest trash can so they don't go to waste". Its more sanitary and accessible for the homeless or hungry than digging inside dumpsters for food- and it actually puts what you don't want to use.
Although San Fransisco is a much larger city with more homeless people than Birmingham, it would be an interesting thing to see pop up downtown. All you have to do is spread the word.
http://www.replate.org/