Food Waste Intelligence

One of the drivers of food waste that we often highlight in LeanPath educational sessions is confusion around date labels. This can sometimes be the case in foodservice—where employees may be required to throw out products in bulk once they have reached a certain date—and often at home, where many consumers don't think twice about pouring a gallon of still-good milk down the drain if they see a date on it that has passed.

Just last month the Norwegian University of Science and Technology released a study that compared the impact of collecting food waste to convert it to biogas (recycling) versus cutting food waste (prevention). A growing number of waste management plants in both the United States and Europe are processing food waste into biogas, which significantly reduces CO2 emissions when it replaces fossil fuels. But is this process a good long-term solution for the environment?

Editor's Note: The following is a guest article by Steven M. Finn, Managing Director of ResponsEcology, a sustainability and change management consulting firm helping organizations to reduce waste and drive transformational culture change with triple bottom line impact. Last week, while headed to a conference on food security in China, I experienced one of those moments that are so powerful to those of us involved in reducing food waste — and that in my case seem to occur with increasing frequency.

What's your operation's strategy to minimize wasted food? If you're like many foodservice operators, you might be feeling a bit overwhelmed by all of the potential solutions to this critical issue, and wondering where you should start. Earlier this month we held a webinar to provide guidance on just that: Building Your 2016 Food Waste Strategy, a Checklist for Success. Crafting a strategy can feel like a daunting task, but we simplified it to just 10 steps to help get you started in the right direction. If you missed it, you can still...

2015 was the biggest year yet for those of us working on solving the global issue of wasted food. It’s an exciting time to be working on this topic! But what’s ahead for 2016—will the momentum continue?