Waste or not

Hello, This morning after Tai Chi at the Ely library, our friend was going through all the produce at the food pantry. It is great that she does that because otherwise things spoil. When I worked there, I also kept an eye on the progress, after something started to smell and splashed on my foot when picked it up, being proactive was the best course. She had found quite a number of items that were not going to last more than a day. She encouraged members of the group to take things, otherwise they were going in the compost. I gathered a bag of items that we like, went to the library to visit, return a book, and find seeds in the seed library. Those seeds will be used in the community garden. I was all the way back in Cedar Rapids, before I realized I had left the bags of food there. Now the question is it better for the earth if I drive back eleven miles to save food from going in the compost or just leave it there and save gas? I do not really know the answer, but I drove back and questioned it for quite a while. These things are not simple black and white issues. They seem to have many parts to them. I think I have lived with Leroy too long. I used to be more of a black and white thinker. Leroy is always fussing around in the gray area. Paula