ZERO WASTE ZONES’ SECOND ANNIVERSARY HIGHLIGHTED BY COLLABORATIONS WITH THE NATIONAL RESTAURANT ASSOCIATION AND WASTE MANAGEMENT

ATLANTA—Feb. 23, 2011 — In 2009, one of the nation’s and the Southeast’s first Zero Waste Zone programs launched in downtown Atlanta.  In connection with the initiative’s success, the National Restaurant Association and Waste Management are announcing new related actions today.

Zero Waste Zones (ZWZ) promote the recycling of commercial waste into reusable products, and teach businesses about the importance of diverting assets destined for landfills back into the production cycle.

Zero Waste Zone Goes National with the National Restaurant Association
The National Restaurant Association, founded in 1919, represents an industry of more than 960,000 restaurants and 13 million employees, as well as suppliers, educators and non-profits. One of the primary goals of the Association is to provide valuable resources to help its members stay ahead in a fast-paced industry.  The National Restaurant Association also is focused on sustainability, and its Conserve initiative, which is in part funded by the Turner Foundation, is designed to inspire actions that improve a company’s bottom line, and are good for people and the planet.

Inspired by ZWZ success, the National Restaurant Association announces a national collaboration with Ei and ZWZ. The collaboration will identify new best practices, create resources and measure the impact of perishable organics waste management and recycling efforts.

“Atlanta’s Zero Waste Zone program has been greatly successful, and we are now looking to expand that success to communities nationwide,” said Scott DeFife, executive vice president for policy and government affairs, the National Restaurant Association.  “Sustainability is imperative to our industry, other business communities and the general public. Working with Elemental Impact, we are bringing industry stakeholders together to enable our members to establish – and succeed in reaching – waste diversion and resource recovery goals.”

It also raises a question about the role of gleaning in foodservice?   We know that 4-10% of all food purchased in foodservice becomes pre-consumer food waste, and there is a significant opportunity to divert this food to formal food rescue programs.   These efforts are not typically considered “gleaning” – they are organized, systematized food recovery efforts that are a great way to safely divert and re-use pre-consumer food waste to combat the on-going hunger problem.

But what about the massive amount of post-consumer food waste, perhaps 20%-25% of total food produced in foodservice?  Is anyone seeing any evidence of customers (e.g. students at colleges)  “gleaning” post-consumer food waste around a foodservice operation (in spite of the obvious and profound problems with sanitation, food safety and contamination)?

Gleaning would be a shocking concept in foodservice, but is it is coming?

The author is journalist Laurie Wiegler and the piece is titled “Whittling Away at Food Waste.“   It covers a range of contributing factors that cause food waste in restaurants.  It also highlights solutions, including food waste tracking.

One section of the article refers to LeanPath and notes that our company has historically served volume foodservice operators.  This is very true, but we are proud to have announced this year, in 2010, the creation of WasteLOGGER, a new software product which provides food waste tracking capabilities at a price point and ROI level that works for almost every restaurant.  Now any foodservice or restaurant operator can track food waste easily with the goal of preventing and reducing overall food waste levels.

Why should we care about food waste? For starters, it’s expensive. Citing various studies, including one at the University of Arizona called the Garbage Project that tracked home food waste for three decades, [Author Jonathan] Bloom estimates that as much as 25 percent of the food we bring into our homes is wasted. So a family of four that spends $175 a week on groceries squanders more than $40 worth of food each week and $2,275 a year.

While food waste issues are quite different in high volume commercial operations, some of the solutions are the same:  don’t buy more than you need, rotate inventory, use older items before new ones; manage production to meet actual demand.

Read the full NYT piece here.

Food Waste Reduction and Recovery

Waste?  This is food and it’s too valuable to waste!

Join us to meet three outstanding leaders who are changing the mind set of industry in diverting away from landfills what was once a waste and is now a product which not only saves companies disposal costs, but also creates new business opportunities.  Economic growth and environmental responsibility — we applaud these companies and their successes.  Please join our speakers as they help us understand industry’s issues with organic materials, disposal options and their strategic decision-making approaches.

Speaker Bios

In 2001, Publix Super Markets created the Get Into a Green Routine program for environmental responsibility.  The program began with education and an emphasis on energy conservation and has extended to waste reduction, recycling and conservation of resources.  Under their Corporate Sustainability Statement, the commitment to recycle store-generated materials destined for landfills helped to raise the company’s overall recycling rate to 45 percent in 2009.

Kim Brunson, Recycle and Solid Waste Manager, Facilities Administration, Publix Super Markets, Inc., Lakeland, FL

Hormel Foods consistently measures and reports progress toward reducing their environmental impact.  They report energy, solid waste,  water, and greenhouse gas data for their U.S. manufacturing locations. Dedicated teams work to identify ways to reduce the company’s environmental impact.  Hormel uses a web-based Environmental Management System to track and monitor progress toward meeting environmental requirements.  This system includes compliance calendars, policy and procedure information and environmental training materials.   To encourage innovative solutions at Hormel plants, an internal Best of the Best competition includes a sustainability category.  In 2009, the competition grew with 44 entries which included projects involving water conservation, energy reduction and solid waste minimization.

Tom Raymond is the Director of Environmental Sustainability at Hormel Foods.  With more than 15 years of experience in environmental management, Tom is responsible for managing the environmental compliance and sustainability efforts for Hormel Foods manufacturing plants.  He started his career at Hormel Foods in 2005, and under his guidance, the company has made significant progress toward achieving its environmental sustainability goals. Tom is a graduate of St. Cloud State University (St. Cloud, Minn.) and holds a bachelor’s degree in chemistry and environmental studies. He also holds a master’s degree in environmental management from Samford University (Birmingham, Ala.) and a law degree from Seattle University (Seattle, Wash.). He is a licensed attorney in the States of Washington and Minnesota.

Founded in 2004, LeanPath, Inc. is a technology company providing food waste tracking systems to the hospitality, foodservice, and restaurant industries. The company’s core offering, the ValuWaste® system, is a proprietary, comprehensive waste tracking technology package that helps foodservice operators reduce food waste, save food dollars and operate more sustainable facilities. ValuWaste includes data collection terminals, which are used to track pre-consumer food waste, a software application, which provides a detailed portrait of the waste stream, and training and coaching that enable chefs and front-line teams to proactively reduce waste.   LeanPath partners with leading foodservice, hospitality, restaurant and government organizations at sites in more than 24 U.S. states.  LeanPath’s strategies for waste prevention represent an economic and environmental opportunity for foodservice operators who need help finding the tools and methods to launch a true source reduction effort.   Strategies for source reducing pre-consumer and post-consumer food waste in restaurants and foodservice operations will be discussed along with food waste tracking, production systems, portioning and service-style adjustments.

Andrew Shakman is Co-Founder and President, CEO of LeanPath, Inc., a technology company providing food waste tracking systems to the foodservice and hospitality industry.  LeanPath systems help foodservice operators prevent and minimize food waste over time.  Andrew is a primary contributor to the Food Waste Focus blog and speaks frequently at foodservice industry events.  Previously, Andrew was President of Nine Dots, a technology firm serving food clients including Nestle, Quaker Oats, and Dole Food Company.  He holds a B.A. from Stanford University and an M.F.A from the University of Southern California.

Click to register for this free webinar today.

The winner in the “Good Neighbor” category was the Nutrition and Food Services Team at the VA Medical Center in Martinsburg, West Virginia.  They were recognized for the totality of their sustainability efforts, which include a food waste prevention program called Waste Watchers.  From the news release:

Good Neighbor Award: Nutrition and Food Services Team, Department of Veterans Affairs, Martinsburg, W.Va. VA’s Martinsburg Medical Center’s Nutrition and Food Services’ Green Kitchen brought together local farmers, VA staff and veterans to bring healthy, locally grown foods from veteran-owned farming businesses to the cafeteria. This initiative decreased landfill food waste by 86 percent, contributed 265 pounds of weekly food donations to a non-profit veteran’s transitional housing group and increased collection of food waste for composting. In addition, the project’s efficient kitchen equipment and operations improved energy and water conservation.

LeanPath is proud to have partnered with the nutrition team in Martinsburg on their Waste Watchers effort.  They use LeanPath food waste tracking tools to measure all pre-consumer food waste, and this has helped them reduce waste by over 80%.

Read the full story on the GreenGov Presidential Awards.

Also view a TV news story detailing the food waste reduction strategies and successes in Martinsburg: “Extra Food Goes to Farmers, Non-Profits Instead of Garbage – Your4State.com“

Unfortunately, consumers didn’t accept the products because they perceived the bags to be excessively noisy.  Sales began to drop. PepsiCo recently announced they are shelving the compostable bag for five out of six Sun Chips flavors, retaining it only for the original Sun Chips flavor.

We can all hope this represents a temporary setback on the road to using more renewable, non-fossil-fuel based food packaging.

This example illustrates the proven reality that few, if any, environmental or social sustainability initiatives will actually be sustained if they are not also financially viable.   The balance between people, planet and profit must always be a part of any sustainability plan or initiative.

This is one of the reasons we, at LeanPath, are so excited about food waste prevention.  It is one of the clearest areas on the foodservice sustainability landscape which pays large dividends – financially, environmentally, and socially – quickly.

Portland, Ore. -

LeanPath® proudly announces the introduction of WasteLOGGER, a software solution for food waste tracking that helps any restaurant, hotel, caterer, or foodservice operation prevent, minimize and avoid pre-consumer food waste (which includes overproduction, spoilage, expiration, trim waste). The software runs on existing computers and does not require specialized tracking equipment. WasteLOGGER was previewed at the 2010 National Restaurant Show in Chicago and will be available commercially in Summer 2010.

Food Waste Tracking: Best Practice in Waste Prevention

Food waste management is a core element of any strategy for sustainable foodservice operations and represents a significant opportunity to enhance efficiency and save resources.

“The EPA’s food waste management hierarchy prioritizes source reduction as the critical first step and best practice in food waste management” says Andrew Shakman, President and Co-Founder of LeanPath, Inc. “And the key to source reduction is daily food waste tracking – without daily information you have no way to diagnose food waste, create awareness, or begin to measure progress.”

Green recognition and certification programs (including the NRA’s Greener Restaurants Program and Green Seal’s GS-46 Standard for Green Restaurant and Foodservice Operations) both identify food waste auditing and tracking as a core best practice in any waste management effort.

Food waste is one of the most expensive hidden costs in any restaurant and foodservice operation. Food waste tracking is the simple, easy, and effective antidote. By tracking waste daily, operators can save 2-4%+ on food purchases, while also saving on disposal and labor costs and operating greener facilities.

LeanPath’s Family of Food Waste Tracking Solutions:

For Volume Foodservice & Hospitality: The patented ValuWaste® Automated System, a rugged touch-screen terminal and bench scale used to track food waste 24-7 in volume foodservice operations.

For Other Restaurants & Foodservice: LeanPath WasteLOGGER, a PC-based software tool to track food waste in small to medium-sized restaurant and foodservice operations as well as mobile catering operations, without the need for specialized tracking equipment.

About LeanPath, Inc.

Founded in 2004, LeanPath pioneered food waste tracking and offers several product solutions. Together, LeanPath WasteLOGGER and the ValuWaste System allow restaurants and foodservice operations of all sizes to select the right tools to meet their tracking and auditing needs for food waste.Contact: LeanPath, Inc. (www.leanpath.com) is a technology company providing food waste tracking systems to the restaurant and foodservice industry. LeanPath partners with leading foodservice organizations at sites in more than 24 U.S. states with customers including ARAMARK, Sodexo, Compass Group, and MGM Mirage. For additional information about LeanPath or its products contact the company by e-mail at info@leanpath.com or by phone at (877) 620-6512.

To view the press release from the LeanPath website:  http://www.leanpath.com/releases.shtml
Contact: Carolyn Burleigh, Carolyn.Burleigh@gmail.com or 503/381-1095

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Why is the case?

Perhaps one reason is that at least 30% of the meal volume in a healthcare foodservice operation involves patient feeding. And those specialized meals have historically relied on specific types of single-use items and/or reusable meal delivery systems (manufactured by companies such as Aladdin Temp-Rite, Burlodge, and Dinex).

But this could be evolving with the introduction of compostable disposable products designed specifically for healthcare.  Burlodge is the first out of the gate with its Eversio line for patient feeding.   The products — which will be available in September 2010 — include specialized trays, bowls, and cutlery that are BPI certified compostable except for the cutlery pieces.

This product introduction will provide U.S. healthcare foodservice operators with new, environmentally-preferable purchasing choices that could reduce the amount of disposable product going to landfills.  It may also spur innovation from other competitors in the market.  Burlodge expects the primary market to be acute care facilities because of “volume and operational savings” although all healthcare segments would see infection control and disaster preparedness benefits.

At LeanPath, we believe reusables usually represent a better alternative to disposables.     Yet we fully recognize there are situations where disposables meet a unique operator need, especially in acute care environments.  Burlodge’s product should be an intriguing alternative for those operations.

While “green” topics have been featured for several years, this was the first year that the discussion in Chicago evolved from a product-centered conversation (compostable disposables, organic foods, etc.) to focus on green operations.  The reality is that the things we buy and use in a foodservice operation make a big environmental difference, but “how” we run our operation matches or exceeds that impact.

Every day managers, chefs and staff members make thousands of small decisions that add up to large environmental and economic consequences:  when to turn on the ovens, when to turn off the water, how to avoid overproduction of prepared foods, etc.  The Conserve Solutions Center provided a venue for these important discussions with excellent educational sessions on a broad range of topics from water to energy to waste.

I presented three sessions on food waste (ABC’s of Food Waste Management, Food Waste Tracking:  What You Need to Know, and Emerging Trends in Foodservice Waste Management).   In each of these I stressed the critical importance of waste prevention and minimization, an area that often gets overlooked as people focus on more tangible efforts such as composting.  I was excited to see my message go to a wider audience on the NRA Show Blog.

The key “green” takeaway from this year’s show: The industry now realizes that the future of “green” restaurants and foodservice will rest largely with chefs and managers choosing to incorporate new operating practices that make a real difference.  This means there will be an industry need for more knowledge, education, training, motivation, measurement & assessment tools to drive improvements.