Low Waste Trends Are Taking Over The Food Industry

In this modern age, both businesses and customers alike are starting to gain a wider awareness of the environment and are becoming more conscious of what they buy and sell.

Customers are increasingly looking to buy products and services that are kinder to the environment, triggering businesses to evaluate practices and change their ways for the betterment of the planet.

This can be seen in the majority of industries, and the food industry is certainly included in this, with restaurants, both local businesses, and popular chains taking another look at how their business is affecting our precious environment.

You may find yourself being conscious of dining at some places over others, which is significant in helping bring about positive change. So, to look into the impact that restaurants have on the environment and what is being done to improve this situation, read on.

How Does Restaurant Waste Affect The Environment?

It's common knowledge that a devastating amount of food waste is produced from restaurants. Some places serve large portions that customers are unable to finish. Some places get food sent back to the kitchen due to complaints.

Some places waste food if it is past its use-by date or if chefs make mistakes in the kitchen. This can include overcooking a dish or dropping ingredients on the floor. All of these factors build up in creating huge amounts of waste – not just nationally but globally.

With much of the wasted food ending up in landfill sites, this contributes to the planet's concerning pollution rate as well as global warming.

Poorly managed food inventories will easily go off and be unsuitable for consumption, wasting food as well as packaging. Additionally, the energy resources used to grow and manufacture food in the first place mustn't be forgotten. This increases our carbon footprint as harmful fossil fuels are often used in this process to cook and heat food up.

Air emissions are also a problem with cooking in restaurants. Restaurants are largely responsible for huge concentrations of organic aerosol, a troubling source of air pollution in our atmosphere. As chefs cook with large amounts of products like oils, the result is organic matter being aerosolized and ventilated from the chef's kitchen in the form of exhaust.

Therefore, the environment is introduced to organic aerosol during the cooking process.

With much of the wasted food ending up in landfill sites, this contributes to the planet's concerning pollution rate as well as global warming.

The Solution

From reading how wasteful restaurants can be, it's obvious that a solution to this issue needs to be addressed. This is where low-waste restaurants come in.

Low-waste restaurants aim to minimize waste, reduce harmful emissions, and maximize recycling in their day-to-day business. Low-waste and zero-waste restaurants are already becoming increasingly popular as more and more people become conscious about their living practices.

Whilst common businesses in this area include vegetarian and vegan restaurants; other eateries are also trying their efforts to reduce their waste by using ethical supplies, local foraging of goods, and reusable food containers.

Growing homemade ingredients such as fruits, vegetables, and herbs have also become quite regular with sustainable restaurants, along with the use of whole foods and local farm products.

Some restaurants aim to target food waste by composting it so that it decomposes naturally or supplying leftovers to homeless people. Both of these approaches take food out of the landfill chain, causing less harm to the environment. Another approach becoming more common is the use of doggy bags or boxes.

This allows customers to take home food that they can't finish whilst at the restaurant, meaning they can consume it another time. To build on this, cardboard boxes are a favorable choice in this solution due to the material's recyclable nature.

Customers are often embarrassed to ask for a doggy bag or box to take food home, which is why some low-waste businesses have started to just hand them out or prompt staff to ask whether the customers would like to take this option.

What you can take away from the idea of low-waste restaurants

As a business owner or marketer, you can really further your restaurant business by opting for a low-waste approach. Customers do love buying into a service that they know is causing minimal harm to our environment.

So, by promoting this style of living, you can inject more meaning into your brand, attract a wider customer base, and encourage other companies to follow in your footsteps. Not only will you make customers happy, but you can also generate profit and look after our planet at the same time.