Food Waste Focus

A few months ago Joe Carbonara, the editor of Foodservice Equipment and Supplies Magazine, asked our president Andrew Shakman to look forward to 2010 and think about new trends and ways waste management might evolve.   We are posting excerpts from the article on this blog for the next five Wednesdays.

Here is excerpt 2 of 5 from the article:

Trend 3:  More Operators Using New Sustainability Standards to Guide Waste Management Efforts

There are several new third-party sustainability ratings systems available that identify waste management best practices.   Even if an operator has no interest in pursuing a certification, they can use one of these standards as a roadmap to determine opportunities and help set goals.

The first nationally recognized standard is the Green Seal GS-46 Environmental Standard for Restaurants and Foodservices.  It provides a detailed framework for waste management that will apply in whole or in part to most operations.    There are other standards that offer content relevant to specialized foodservices including the Green Guide for Healthcare, the AASHE STARS system for colleges & universities and the APEX standards for catering and convention centers.   

Each of these standards offers downloadable summaries, checklists and background information that allow operators to hit the ground running.

Trend 4:  Understanding and Striving Toward Zero Waste

Foodservice operators will never avoid all waste, but they should prepare to strive for “zero waste”.   This means putting no waste — especially food — in landfills.  “Zero waste” may be accomplished through a combination source reduction and waste diversion (via food recovery, composting or recycling). Source reduction – which is perched at the very top of the hierarchy — offers the highest cost savings potential and dramatically better environmental outcomes than diversion.

Operators occasionally claim they have a “zero waste” operation if they are composting or recycling everything even if they lack of focus on source reduction.  Composting has received considerable attention in recent years despite the fact it ranks near the bottom of the waste management hierarchy.   While composting is vastly preferable to landfill disposal, it should not be viewed as the singular priority antidote to food waste.  To be legitimate, a “zero waste” operation should focus heavily on source reduction and view diversion as a secondary option. 

As the industry focuses more on source reduction, there will also be less tolerance for imprecise claims about “waste reduction.”   Everyone wants to claim they are “reducing waste” but that’s only true if you are preventing or minimizing that waste at the source.  Composting and food donation represent “waste diversion” tactics.   In such cases, waste is being diverted from a landfill for a higher and better use but it has not been reduced. 

You can access the full article in the December issue of Foodservice Equipment and Supplies Magazine

Article: “Redefining Foodservice Waste Management:  What’s Next.”<–>