In the United States, restaurants are major contributors to food waste. The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) estimates that food accounts for 22% of all municipal solid waste (MSW) in landfills and combustion facilities, more than any other material. U.S. restaurants generate approximately 22 to 33 billion pounds of food waste annually.
This waste begins even before food preparation as 4 to 10 percent of ingredients are discarded prior to reaching consumers’ plates. Factors such as oversized portions and elaborate menu options also contribute to restaurant food waste. On average, 31 to 40 percent of food served in restaurants is left uneaten, ultimately to be recycled or discarded by restaurant establishments.
What contributes to restaurant food waste?
The increase in meal portion sizes over the last 30 years is a major contributing factor to the problem of restaurant food waste. In fact, today’s restaurant portion sizes are 2 to 4 times larger than what is recommended by the USDA and Federal Drug Administration.
Food waste in a restaurant is impacted by a variety of factors, including kitchen practices. Opportunities exist to optimize food preparation, ingredient storage, and the use of food scraps and trimmings. In some cases, chain restaurant managers face challenges in adopting more flexible practices, which can also impact food waste.
Buffet-style dining has been on the decline in recent years, but there are opportunities for reducing food waste. Current regulations make it difficult to donate or repurpose leftover buffet items, and keeping the buffet fully stocked throughout the day often leads to excess. By rethinking how buffets are managed, restaurants can explore more sustainable options that reduce waste while still meeting customer expectations.
When restaurant food is wasted, the fancy plates of food are not the only things being discarded. The water and agricultural chemicals used to nourish plants, energy spent on growing food products, and labor used to store, transport, and prepare food all go to waste.
Is food waste recycled into compost?
Despite the preponderance of restaurant food waste, the organic waste is incredibly valuable. Leftover food resources can be recycled into compost, which serves to fertilize soil, improve soil quality, and limit soil erosion. There are many environmental benefits to recycling restaurant food waste.
When restauranteurs properly separate organics for the composting process, they divert further waste from filling landfills. Restaurants that participate in composting also reduce waste hauling fees. Overall, their efforts to recycle food waste are rewarded with making a positive environmental impact.
Many types of common restaurant food waste can be successfully composted. Food scraps top the list. Fruit and vegetable waste, for example, can be readily composted. Beverage products, such as coffee grinds and tea bags, may also be recycled via composting.
Certain restaurant food waste cannot be composted, and these include fats, oils, and greases. In these cases, it is important to separate them from compostable waste. Designated bins accept compostable materials. Grease may be hauled by a grease collection company and enter its recycling process.
Grease collection companies work in tandem with restaurants to help the latter recycle food waste. Company services include providing the restaurant with indoor or outdoor bins to collect the leftover cooking oils. Scheduled pickups remove the used grease from the restaurant.
How can restaurants limit food waste?
While resources are available to recycle food waste, restaurants should consider utilizing methods to limit food waste whenever possible. Conducting a food waste audit is a first step to help determine what products are most frequently discarded and adjust.
Avoid contributing food waste to landfills by updating the existing restaurant menu to better cater to customer preferences. Chefs should repurpose ingredients. Train kitchen personnel to prevent spoilage of food products by using the oldest items first and avoiding ordering in excess.
Train employees to discard food waste in appropriate bins. Make color-coded recycling bins available to restaurant patrons, as well. Customers have 2 to 3 seconds to make a snap judgment as to where to throw out uneaten food; use graphics to communicate a sustainability message.
Restauranteurs are encouraged to send food waste to a composting facility. Consider an anaerobic digester, which converts food into energy. Donate food scraps to local farmers who can use them as animal feed or for composting in the farm fields.
Used cooking oils, fats, and greases have economic value. Partnering with a grease collection company can also ensure the cooking oil is recycled in an oil recycling center. Used cooking oil is processed, heated, filtered, and separated. The recycled cooking oil can then be used to produce eco-friendly products like renewable diesel.
Used Cooking Oil Pickup and Recycling from Mahoney
Restauranteurs that partner with a reputable used cooking oil collection company, such as Mahoney Environmental, contribute to a cleaner environment and streamline restaurant operations. Our recycling program meets all the cooking oil collection and delivery needs of countless satisfied restaurants.
In select markets, you can ensure that your restaurant kitchen is consistently stocked with fresh cooking oil with our scheduled delivery services. Restaurant managers can also track their oil usage online. Our advanced tracking technologies guarantee timely deliveries of fresh oil and pickups of used cooking oil, ensuring your restaurant operates safely and efficiently. Our recycling process transforms used cooking oil into renewable resources.
Mahoney Environmental offers a complete range of services related to cooking oil management and storage. Our technicians provide effective grease trap cleaning and maintenance to keep fats, oil, and grease from being washed down the drain. We can also design and install custom used cooking oil disposal systems tailored to your restaurant’s unique requirements. These systems include equipment such as bulk storage containers and portable filter machines to ensure the safe handling and disposal of used cooking oil.
Mahoney Environmental is a national leader in food waste recycling. We recycle used cooking oil (UCO), as well as fats, oils, and grease (FOG) from grease traps and other water separation devices, waste from virgin oils, and water generated during the process of breaking out oil and solids.
Restaurants large and small across the U.S. choose us for their food waste recycling needs. Contact Mahoney at 800-892-9392 to learn more about our programs.
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