Find a New Home for Food Waste and Scraps
Joe, a non-chain restaurant owner who has just started his business nearly one year in Manhattan, woke up one month ago and got notified that his restaurant’s Yelp score has dropped below 4.0 because of a large volume of criticisms of its pricing. He soon met with the chef and confirmed that there would still be a decent profit margin if the restaurant provided a greater portion of food to get around the criticisms. With this effort, the Yelp score of Joe’s restaurant has climbed back over 4.0. However, what he did not notice also increased was the volume of the trash bags. The competitiveness of the food service industry in New York City makes restaurant owners ignore the environmental impact of their daily operations when unsorted food waste is sent to landfill, generating greenhouse gas emissions.
While the USDA documented that about 33.8 million people in the United States are food insecure in 2021, about 40 million tons of food were wasted every year domestically, of which the food service industry accounted for 19.9%. Food waste becomes the single most common material in landfill and generates methane - more potent than carbon dioxide causing the greenhouse effect. New York City - the home of 28,090 restaurant businesses - alone generates about 24 million pounds of food waste and other organic waste daily. Although under Local Law 146 of 2013, certain food service businesses are mandated to sort their organic waste because of their business sizes, the Law has ignored the fact that about 90.4% of food service businesses in Manhattan are non-chain and small/medium-sized. However, because of the negative impact on the environment, as contributors to greenhouse gas emissions, small/medium-sized restaurants in New York City should take up the responsibility to divert food waste from landfill by having an onsite food-waste-only bin.
The current law only requires small/medium-sized restaurants to sort their waste in regards to recyclable or nonrecyclable. Restaurants now discard all food waste and scraps with other municipal wastes, such as napkins and single-use utensils. Because of the long sitting time in the basement due to mandated pick-up time in New York City, food gets rotten which creates public concerns regarding street cleanliness and health. Moreover, because of the liquid exposed from the rotten food waste and scraps, some potential recyclable waste is polluted, thus ending up in landfills. While there is a public policy related to the sorting of organic wastes implemented on the larger scale of restaurants, small/medium-sized restaurants should recognize the possibility of future policy expansion to them as one the stakeholders. It is wise to accommodate in advance by trying to find a new destination for the sorted food waste and scraps and even earn some returns by recycling them.
Installing an onsite food-waste-only bin can benefit restaurants by cutting down their waste management fee which they pay for the curbside trash collection services. Currently, curbside trash collectors determine the service price by either the weight or volume of the restaurants’ waste. Food waste and scraps usually absorb water during dish cleanups. As a result, the weight of trashbags is significant. It is common to see employees taking out trash bags with trolleys at night in Manhattan. In addition, due to sanitation concerns, some restaurants require more frequent services that increase the service fee. By sorting food waste and scraps out, the volume of the trash shrinks, thus cutting down the waste management fee.
Additionally, by having an onsite food-waste-only bin, restaurants gain another way to reuse these resources because of the sorting effort. Many social enterprises now accept food waste and scraps that can be further recycled. For example, Do Good Foods repurposes food waste into healthy feeds for animals to close the loop of the food production system. StormFisher, a startup, uses anaerobic digestion to turn food waste and scraps into fuel. However, to ensure successful recycling, it is the upstream stakeholders' responsibility to sort the waste out properly.
Food is a necessity that is so common that we often forget how vulnerable they are. The problem with the current food production and consumption system that creates negative impacts on the environment is real. We should all recognize that every single move contributes to this result. However, a small action is significant to create change. So, please start by finding a new home for food waste and scraps other than the landfill by installing an onsite food-waste-only bin and sending the waste to organizations that help with recycling and reuse!
