BMPS FOR COMMERCIAL
& INSTITUTIONAL
WASTED FOOD
REDUCTION/RECOVERY
Athena Lee Bradley
Northeast Recycling Council
www.NERC.org
Percent Wasted
Restaurants
• Percent of total purchased food
• 11.3% Full Service / 9.55% Fast-Food
• Percent of trash
• 66% Full Service / 52% Fast-food
Retailers - Percent of wasted food
• Fresh fruit - 1.4%, fresh vegetables - 9.7%,
fresh meat, poultry, & seafood - 4.5%
Percent Donated or Recycled
Restaurants
• Donated, 1.4% (surveys vary 20-70%)
• Recycled, 14.3%
• Of this, more than 70% is cooking oil recycling
Manufacturing
• Donated or recycled 94.9%
• More than 85 percent is repurposed for animal feed
Retail/wholesale
• Donated or recycled 42.4%
• Composting & donation
Benefits
• Save $ - reduced commodities, labor,
energy, disposal costs
• Improved worksite sanitation
• Recognition
• Access to tax credits
• Community engagement/social benefits
• Environmental
Wasted Food—Restaurants, Cafeterias
Back of the house/pre-consumer
• Expiration/spoilage, trim waste, incorrectly
prepared food/overcooked, dropped,
overproduction
• Service stations – salad bars, self-serve, deli
stations, misordered product, expired grab & go
• Leftover catering
Front of house/customer/post-consumer
• Plate waste
Wasted Food—Retailers
• From transport - bruising, spoiling, drying
• On shelf - piling, touching, dropping
• No longer fresh “looking”/ “ugly”
• Customers shop based on food appearance
• Sell-by & best-by dates confuse retailers &
shoppers
Getting Generators on Board
• Assist with waste audits/assessments
• Provide training & resources
• Promote the organics hierarchy
• How to “right size” trash collection
• Know donation & composting options
• Grant money
• Recognition
Waste Audit/Assessment
• Understand food service practices &
how they generate inefficiency/waste
• Determine baseline
• Look at each point of generation
• Pre-Consumer
• Receiving, prep, production
• Service: hot line, deli, salad bar
• Post-Consumer
Key Steps
• Engage key stakeholders – “SWAT”
• Review data, set waste minimization goals
• Revise procedures, policies, menus
• Daily overview/discussion; weekly meetings
• Track/control systems
• Ongoing measure of pre-consumer waste
• Periodic review of plate waste – portion sizes
Staff Training
• Employee orientation
• Ongoing
• Staff meetings – solve issues as a team
• Monitor staff compliance
• Friendly competitions
• Recognition/rewards
• Consistent messaging, signage
• Seek Feedback/Provide Feedback
• Give periodic updates-$saved, food scraps diverted
Wasted Food Reduction BMPs
• Make wise purchasing decisions
• Reduce inventory size, order more frequently
• Practice proper storage/rotation
• Invest in high-quality preparation &
processing equipment
• Specialized knives
• Bulk food purchasing & dispensers
BMPs, cont.
• Batch Cooking
• Consider secondary uses for excess food
• Soups, salads, daily specials
• Change the dishware
• Smaller plates & glasses will reduce portions
• Set smaller plates with food on larger plates
to make portions look bigger
BMPs, cont.
• Monitor plate waste - adjust menu &
portions
• Allow employees to take home leftovers
• Go trayless - students waste 25-30% less
food without tray option
• “Waste Awareness Drives”
Retail Specific BMPs
• Properly maintain perishable foods &
groceries displays
• Rotate older products in front of newer ones
• Discount food that isn’t at peak
freshness or “ugly” produce
• Use in prepared deli foods, soups, etc.
Food Recovery
• Bill Emerson Good Samaritan Food
Donation Act
• Richard Russell National School Lunch Act
• Amended to clarify that schools who donated
food to charity are protected by Good
Samaritan Laws
• USDA & EPA recognize schools
• K12FoodRescue.com - "Getting Started"
Barriers to Donating Food
• Transportation constraints
• Insufficient storage/refrigeration on site
• Liability concerns
• Regulatory constraints
• Insufficient storage/refrigeration at food
banks
• Confusion over use by/sell by dates
Food Recovery BMPs
• Know characteristics of suitable food –
• Types of acceptable food
• Food safety is key - trained staff, temperature
control, timing, sanitation
• Develop directory of food recovery
organizations
• Promote benefits—tax credits, liability
protection, community benefits
Food Recovery BMPs, cont.
• Partnership building
• Effective communication & relationships
• Assist food recovery organizations in
setting up route densities
• Or, alternative means of transportation
• Recordkeeping
• Promote/Recognize participants
Food Recovery in Action
Farm Gleaning
Food for Animals
Grow Compost Vermont
Grow Compost Vermont, cont.
Recognition
Universal Signs & Symbols
Consistent
Images
Consistent
Colors
NERC Can Help
We’re experts in
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Waste reduction & recycling
Recycling program design &
implementation
Organics management
Green procurement
C&D reuse & recycling
Electronics recycling
School reuse, recycling &
composting
Textile recycling programs
Multi-stakeholder dialogues &
negotiations
& More!
Fee for service makes
NERC’s expertise
available at a
reasonable price with
outstanding results
Athena Lee Bradley
athena@nerc.org
802.254.3636
www.nerc.org