Food Waste Focus

Earlier this year, PepsiCo took a bold leap forward by introducing the first compostable chip bag for its Sun Chips brand.  It was a significant step by a food and beverage leader, and one that many hoped would start a trend leading to more compostable packaging.  Indeed, PepsiCo had done extensive research to get its [...]

The problem:  Take-out customers place a unique demand on foodservice operations, requiring single-use packaging which costs operators big dollars and leads to extensive waste compared to reusable alternatives. For years there weren’t many good solutions to this problem. The good news: Some operators (specifically, those with repeat customers and warewashing capabilities) can reduce this take-out [...]

When I walk into a foodservice dining room during lunch it’s common to see many guests eating with reusable ware such as china and metal flatware.   These service items can be used many times, thereby delivering lower long-term costs for the operator and arguably less environmental impact than single-use disposable serviceware (clambshells, plastic forks, plastic [...]

Compostable foodservice disposables (such as bagasse plates, PLA cups, potato cutlery, etc.) have received a lot of operator attention in recent years. However, one of the foodservice sectors that has been slower to embrace these products is healthcare foodservice. Why is the case? Perhaps one reason is that at least 30% of the meal volume [...]

Which foodservice waste items qualify as “compostable?” The answer depends on who will handle the composting – keep in mind that many commercial composters handle yard waste but cannot or will not accept food. Those that do handle food waste will usually accept all food waste (pre-consumer and post-consumer) as well as plant-based compostable disposables [...]

Foodservice operators are looking for ways to avoid landfilling disposable items such as drinking cups, plates, and to-go containers. The best solution is to reuse service ware – convert from disposables to durables.  But this is not be possible in many scenarios. The alternative is to buy environmentally preferable disposables, but this can be tricky.  [...]

How to Reduce Catering Food Waste – Part 1 of 3 Catering orders typically increase during the holiday season, making this the perfect time to focus on reducing catering food waste. Changes you make now will benefit your operation year-round, especially as catering growth returns in 2010. Whether you offer buffet, banquet, off-premise, or drop-off [...]

Hey Everyone! Lets do this!  Our friends at Waste Aware Scotland are spending the news about the first International Plastic Bag Free Day on Saturday, September 12th: http://tinyurl.com/mgor6s This is a great way to ‘source reduce‘ all those nasty plastic bags we get from the store.  Take a reusable cloth bag, use your backpack, messenger [...]

This a great article done by the folks at CNet (http://www.cnet.com).  A public utility in the San Francisco-Oakland bay area is looking at new ways to convert food waste to usable energy.  there are a lot of restaurants and foodservice operations in their local area.  Collecting this food waste and converting it to energy, capturing [...]

Wow!  What a great article from our friends at Biocycle and JG Press:  http://www.biocycle.net/.  They recently sent this nugget of information and we thought it would be great to pass along to everyone. This article gives an insider view on starting and running a composting plan at special events and festivals.  It mentions a few [...]