Food Waste in the Restaurant Industry

Have you ever been to a restaurant and left a piece of your food on your plate? Even worse, have you ever sent your meal back because it wasn’t what you wanted? This food is usually wasted and will wind up in a landfill. As you can imagine, an overwhelming amount of food is wasted or thrown out at restaurants all across the country every single day.

A half a pound of food is wasted per meal in restaurants, whether it’s from what is left on a customer’s plate, or in the kitchen itself. Approximately 85% of the food that isn’t used in a typical American restaurant is thrown out while only a small percentage is recycled or donated. With more than 42 million food-insecure people in our country, this amount of food waste is a major problem.

Now how can we combat this epidemic? The first step toward reducing the amount of food we waste is to find smarter ways to use this food in the kitchen. Restaurants could also send the food to food banks, or even composting the food to help out the dying climate.

Many restaurants in the US are starting to compost the food. Black Bear Composting in Charlottesville, for example, already has a growing number of clients from local schools and restaurants. A restaurant called Blue Hill in New York starting to feed local livestock the food that goes unused.

There is a long way to go but the efforts coming from restaurants are certainly a step in the right direction.

New York State Budget Includes Food Waste Mandate | Waste360