Ways to Recycle Food in Your Restaurant

Nowadays, restaurant recycling is becoming more prevalent. As a matter of fact, government-backed legislation are requiring food establishments to follow certain recycling procedures, depending on the state ordinance. The mandatory recycling procedures include acts such as arranging the restaurant pickup of recyclables and complying with the state-required product bans.

It's no secret that restaurants produce a great amount of waste in the forms of food scraps and product packaging. Considering the numerous restaurants in every state, it's alarming to think about the total tons of waste of these establishments in the US alone. This is why a recycling program that can lessen the environmental impact of the discarded waste is necessary.

The advocacy is great, but many restaurant owners are discouraged by the fact that recycling operations can be costly. While it may sound financially taxing and time-consuming for restaurants to go down the green path, grasping the idea is more difficult than actually applying it. Plus, the long-term effects suggest that your business will save more money by recycling. As a matter of fact, according to a study done by Champions 12.3, for every $1 a restaurant invests in a recycling program, an average of $7 dollars is saved in operating costs.

As a restaurant owner, you might think that food waste is not as harmful as the other waste, such as plastic, but decaying fruits and vegetables actually emit methane gas-a major greenhouse gas. Here are the ways the food in your restaurant can be recycled:

Donate the excess food to your chosen charity.

Do good for the community by donating the day's excess food to a local shelter or charity that require food assistance. Having a partner organization will save your business from waste disposal cost, help people in need, increase the morale of your employees, and reduce the volume of food in landfills.

Maximize the use of ingredients.

Challenge your chef into creating dishes that will use parts of the ingredients usually thrown away. For instance, instead of sending vegetable stalks and bones of meat to the trash, they can be used as stock for soups. This inspires your chef's creativity and helps your restaurant's travel the road towards sustainability.

Offer takeaway containers to your customers.

Restaurant trash is usually composed of leftover meals. What you can do is offer your guests the option to take home their leftovers. Your guests can finish the meal at home when hunger strikes once more. However, be careful in choosing the material and size of your takeaway boxes. It might do more harm than good. Better yet, encourage your customers into bringing reusable containers, so they can bring home their excess food.

Avail a compost haul away service from your waste management provider.

If you don't have an area to start a D-I-Y composting project, you can contact your waste management provider about the service. The process involves the decomposition of organic waste, such as food by organisms under controlled aerobic conditions. It, then, becomes a useful soil enhancer that can help plants thrive in their environment. At the same time, the process helps reduce the waste sent to various landfills.

It is important for restaurants to join the battle for a cleaner environment. Because restaurants are visible and necessary in every community, your stand will prove a point to community members, which, hopefully, can inspire positive change in households.