What better way to celebrate Earth Day than to take a close look at food waste, what it is doing to our planet, how it’s affecting our sustainability, and what we can do about it. Waring started an awareness campaign to fight the Global Food Waste Crisis and came up with some solutions that operators can apply to their foodservice operations. These practices will be good for the earth and they will also positively affect a restaurant’s bottom line.
Let's take a closer look at the facts:
The food industry lost $20 billion in food waste, with foodservice operations realizing the most significant impact.
23 million tons of food waste occurs at the consumer-facing business level.
Because of the impact of COVID-19, the number of people struggling with food insecurity grew in 2020 to more than 50 million.
In the United States alone, surplus food is responsible for 4% of U.S. GHG emissions, 14% of all freshwater use, 18% of all cropland use, and 24% of landfill inputs.
Food waste is the number one material (EPA estimates) in landfills.
In 2019, surplus food was valued at $408 billion. Of this, 70% or $285 billion dollars was due to food waste.
These are all facts that are part of Waring’s awareness campaign, provided by
*ReFED – Roadmap to 2030: Reducing U.S. Food Waste by 50% and the ReFED Insights Engine
Foodservice professionals are strong and resilient; if we all spread the word and take action to reduce food waste, think of the change we could make.
So, what can we do about it?
An excellent place to start is to look at commonly discarded ingredients. As part of Waring’s discovery on food waste, they identified the top food waste offenders. They also created a fantastic resource for ingredient optimization to turn potential waste into profitable recipes.
Check out Waring’s recipes, tips, and resources to reduce waste for these three top offenders, Avocados, Carrots, and Tomatoes. Here are more Waring Empowered Top Offender Recipes.
Waring’s Empowered Initiative is in place to inspire change and help our culinary community. There’s no better time to start than on Earth Day. So, let’s get together and keep this going. No other industry has a group of professionals like the foodservice industry. We can do it! For more ideas check out Waring’s article Empowering Chefs to Reduce Food Waste with Culinary Creativity.
Turn to Waring Commercial Products for more information, resources, and solutions!
Author: Carla Landi
