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Andrew Shakman, Co-Founder & CEO

Recent Posts

To Achieve Our Food Waste Goals, We Must Overcome Limiting Beliefs

Posted by Andrew Shakman, Co-Founder & CEO on June 3, 2022

On May 12, Leanpath Co-Founder and CEO Andrew Shakman delivered the closing keynote address at the 2022 ReFED Food Waste Conference. "Unfortunately," he states, "the scale of our movement does not yet match the scale of the food waste problem." Reflecting on 18 year of driving food waste change, Andrew identifies the limiting beliefs that are holding us back--and how we overcome them. Watch the video above or read the following transcript.

 

After this fantastic conference, everyone should be armed and ready to drive change.  And I hope we’re seeking not just any change: We want meaningful change. Big change. Fast change

As skilled change agents, it behooves us to anticipate obstacles that might lie ahead. So, today I’ll be sharing a few observations about overcoming challenges, based on many years working on food waste.

Food waste is clearly a compelling topic. We all know it’s a ”no brainer”, the very definition of a nexus issue. Unfortunately, the scale of our movement does not yet match the scale of the food waste problem. And this is not for lack of effort or lack of progress - this conference is testament to the collective advancements we are making. Progress is absolutely afoot. 

But I’ve observed myself, and have discussed with some of you, that this fight often feels difficult. More difficult than it should be given the magnitude of the problem. This has caused me to reflect on a central question, closely linked to our conference theme: What stands in the way of this movement achieving greater scale, at a faster pace?

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Topics: Sustainability

Earth Day 2022: "Don't underestimate the importance of food waste."

Posted by Andrew Shakman, Co-Founder & CEO on April 22, 2022

Hello everyone and happy Earth Day. I'm Andrew Shakman, Co-Founder and CEO Andrew Shakman.

I have one simple thought and request for you as we collectively reflect today on the changes needed to sustain our planet.

My request: please don’t underestimate the importance of food waste.

When Earth Day was founded 52 years ago, food waste prevention was not a central concern. But this year, the newest report from the UN’s Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change references food waste 125 times.

And there’s a reason for that.

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Topics: Sustainability

COVID-19 reminds us that foodservice is central to community and connection

Posted by Andrew Shakman, Co-Founder & CEO on April 1, 2020

At Leanpath, tracking food waste on an hourly basis around the world, we’ve watched as COVID-19 has been felt across the global foodservice industry. As we’ve seen many operations forced to shut down abruptly, we’ve also seen an associated spike in food waste levels. We’ve had a unique vantage point from which to watch this set of adverse changes.

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Topics: Announcements, COVID-19

Reflecting on 15 years of fighting food waste

Posted by Andrew Shakman, Co-Founder & CEO on April 24, 2019

 

We’re very excited to celebrate Leanpath’s 15th birthday in 2019. While much has changed since 2004, we’ve remained dedicated to a single challenge: preventing food waste. And as we recently announced, we're currently preventing food waste at a rate of 1 pound every 2 seconds.

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A Food Waste Resolution for 2018

Posted by Andrew Shakman, Co-Founder & CEO on December 20, 2017

The momentum around food waste reduction continued throughout 2017. The high-profile documentary “Wasted!” debuted, adding celebrity chef voices to the effort. The Natural Resources Defense Council released a pair of comprehensive reports detailing food waste in major U.S cities. The World Wildlife Fund partnered with the hospitality industry to release the Hotel Kitchen toolkit designed to encourage the measurement of food waste, the establishment of food donation strategies, and the diversion of food waste from landfills. From the Food Waste Fair in New York City to London Food Tech Week, thought leaders and innovators congregated around the world to discuss and strategize. And even Pope Francis weighed in: “We are called to propose a change in lifestyles, in the use of resources, in production criteria, including consumption that, with regard to food, involves growing losses and waste. We cannot resign ourselves to saying someone else will take care of it.”

Now, looking to build on that momentum in 2018, we’d like to suggest a resolution for anyone concerned with reducing food waste, but particularly the foodservice industry: move from a culture of diverting food waste to one of preventing food waste.

More specifically, we urge organizations in the foodservice industry to continue to move up the EPA’s Food Waste Hierarchy. A decade ago, the cutting edge of food waste prevention was a restaurant starting a composting program (which is just above sending your waste to the landfill on the hierarchy). But foodservice has kept moving its way up: repurposing used fryer oil for fuel, separating excess for animal feed, and setting up donation programs for unused food, which gets the industry almost to the top of the hierarchy.

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Topics: Food Waste Musings, Food Waste Prevention Newsletter