Food Waste Focus

ARAMARK Higher Education recently announced a program to introduce re-usable to-go containers on college campuses nationwide.    The goal is to prevent the disposal of 2 million single-use containers.   Single-use disposables are one of the most wasteful elements in foodservice, so this is a major step forward.  The challenge will be changing student behavior to make [...]

I just returned from the 21st national conference for HFM (National Society for Healthcare Food Management).  HFM is a vibrant organization which is consolidating with ASHFSA, an equally energetic group.  Together, they are becoming the Association for Healthcare Foodservice. At this final HFM conference in Indian Wells, California,  they offered a general session on best-practice ideas to manage costs.  [...]

Hey folks! Just attended a good training webinar for the NEW Re-Trac program from WasteWise.  Re-Trac is a great program that can be used by any type of operation to “collect, organize, analyze and report” all recycling and waste.  Re-Trac is a web-based system that allows an operator to track many different types of waste:  [...]

Voters in the City of Seattle appear to have rejected a proposal for a 20 cent fee on all plastic and paper carry out bags.   While this doesn’t pertain directly to food waste, any foodservice operator offering take-out food products needs to pay attention to trends related to paper and plastic carry-out bags.  Given Seattle’s [...]

Last week, about 60 foodservice folks made the journey to Oregon to participate in the 2nd Annual Northwest Sustainability Discovery Tour.   Organized by Truitt Bros. of Salem, Oregon (a sustainable food manufacturer/processor), the event brought together a group of interested operators to see the “best practices” in the Northwest US, a region known for its [...]

The UK Government just released a series of reports called Food 2030 that were prepared by the Department for the Environment,  Food & Rural Affairs. They focus on a range of food security issues, but target food waste as a major problem, noting: Reducing food waste has the potential to cut carbon emissions equal to [...]

Yes, we focus on food waste here.  But drinking water is another frequently wasted item in foodservice, so we pay attention.  Think of all the glasses of drinking water we pour for diners that never touch them, or all the plastic water bottles we sell, or the infinite number of water pitchers we set-up for [...]

Hi folks – here’s a little industry ‘inside scoop‘ for you… I just received an e-mail from our favorite contact at the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).  She told me that they are almost finished with the newest version of the Food Waste Calculator.  It should be done later this month (August) and ready for [...]

Here at the offices of the “Food Waste Flyer” – we see a lot of articles and information fly across our desks and computer screens.  We try to keep everyone focused on food waste (pun intended!) and more specifically, source reduction of food waste.  When something interesting pops up we like to pass it along [...]

You’ve heard this expression before: “You can’t manage what you don’t measure.”  Many people today use this expression, especially those in the ‘green’ fields of source reduction, recycling, energy conservation.  What should you measure?  How do you take what you’ve “measured” and use it to “manage” your business (improve your margins, generate profit, save cold [...]