Category Archives: Restaurant

You Gonna Eat That, Neighbor?

Eating other people’s leftovers isn’t for everyone, but it is for someone. LeftoverSwap app founder Dan Newman hopes that others aside from me (and foragers and freegans) are interested in the notion. The app, due out by the end of this month, will facilitate leftover sharing or trading. You post a picture of your leftovers and […]

August 1, 2013 | Also posted in Household, Leftovers | Comments closed

US Food Manufacturers, Retailers Tackling Food Waste

The Food Waste Reduction Alliance, an industry group of food manufacturers, retailers and restaurants studying waste, recently announced their preliminary findings. Here’s the press release and here’s the entire study, done by BSR. Three thoughts: 1. It’s encouraging! The report is a sign that the US food industry is finally paying attention to food waste. The report […]

June 26, 2013 | Also posted in Stats, Supermarket | Comments closed

New York City Composts!

The Bloomberg Administration announced plans on Sunday for an ambitious composting program for household and commercial food waste that would cover all of New York City by 2016. The move continues Mayor Bloomberg’s recent emphasis on food waste and will help reach the PlaNYC goal of diverting 75 percent of waste from landfills by 2030. The plans are […]

June 17, 2013 | Also posted in Composting, Legislation | Comments closed

Friday Buffet

Tesco released a major report yesterday called What Matters Now: Using Our Scale For Good. One of the three ambitions was to lead in reducing food waste globally. The massive, UK-based retailer plans to use its industry standing to prompt suppliers and manufacturers to reduce food waste, while helping consumers do the same. For more […]

May 24, 2013 | Also posted in Composting, School, Supermarket | Comments closed

Friday Buffet

More than 100 New York City restaurants–including ones owned by Mario Batali, Lidia Bastianich and Danny Meyer–have pledged to cut their waste in half. One thing conspicuously absent in the writeup was any kind of timeline. Still, great news! — — The GRACE Communications Foundation (the folks behind The Meatrix) just launched a new site on food waste, and […]

April 26, 2013 | Also posted in College, Environment, Food Safety | Comments closed

Besmirching a Good Samaritan?

A recent L.A. Times piece on the legality of restaurant donations made me wonder a bit about the Bill Emerson Good Samaritan Food Donation Act–you know, that 1996 federal shield law that protects donors from liability when they donate food that they deem to be in good shape. In the article, Shirley Wei Sher, a […]

March 25, 2013 | Also posted in Food Safety | Comments closed

Fine with a Fine?

In American Wasteland, I wrote about a buffet in London that charges a fee for food left uneaten and donates the proceeds to Oxfam. This editorial advocating that buffet restaurants fine patrons for uneaten food caught my eye. The idea stemmed from a seafood restaurant in Sapporo that is pretty particular about how customers eat […]

February 20, 2013 | Also posted in Unfinished Food Charge | Comments closed

Do Those Veggie Scraps Mean Anything?

It has been a busy few days for food waste on the National media Public Radio front. First, Marketplace had this look at the Economics of Wasted Leftovers. Then, Talk of the Nation ran an in-depth conversation about waste (which included my perspective). Next, Morning Edition examined why restaurants don’t prioritize food waste in a […]

November 29, 2012 | Posted in Restaurant | Comments closed

Friday Buffet

The burgeoning site Say No To Food Waste was kind enough to create this nice collection of food waste studies. — — I’d definitely sign up for a Waste Buster scheme, especially if it involves Bill Murray, Dan Aykroyd, and the gang. — — The issue of wasted food received some nice exposure here, courtesy of Joy […]

November 16, 2012 | Also posted in Composting, Stats, Waste Stream | Comments closed

Friday Buffet

Exciting news: the National Restaurant Association announced a partnership with the US Composting Council. We shall see what comes from this collaboration, but at first glance it seems like a major step in the right direction. I like the second item the best: “We are pleased to join with the US Composting Council to better […]

October 12, 2012 | Also posted in Composting, Waste Stream | Comments closed