While the rest of the world combined wastes about 2.5 billion pounds of food every year, the United States wastes nearly 60 million tons — 120 billion pounds — of food every year alone, according to Recycle Track Systems. This is about 30-40% of the U.S. food supply and averages about 325 annual pounds of waste per person, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture.
Why does food waste matter? According to RTS, wasting food has irreversible environmental consequences. Not only does it waste the water and energy it took to make the food, but it also emits greenhouse gases. Food that sits decaying in landfills produces nitrogen pollution, causing algae blooms and dead zones in the water supply.
According to the World Wildlife Fund for Nature, between the energy and labor dedicated toward its growth, preparation and transportation, the production of wasted food in the United States is equivalent to the greenhouse emissions of 32.6 million cars.
Restaurants across Bloomington work to reduce food waste in their businesses and decrease this environmental impact. Some have come up with unique ways to prevent throwing away food or ending up with leftover food at the end of the day.
FARM Bloomington relies on classic cooking, owner Chef Daniel Orr said. They try to use every part of an animal, such as using the bones to make stock, to help reduce waste created by the picking and choosing of animal meat. In the stock, they throw in vegetable peels and scraps that would otherwise be wasted.
“The key to being a good restaurant is to have the least amount of garbage to throw away at the end of the day,” Orr said.
Orr is diligent with his staff in making sure there is no unnecessary waste in the kitchen. If cooks are cutting celery, they should only throw away a ¼ inch of the bottom instead of an inch. If they open tomato sauce cans or ketchup, they should scrape it out before throwing it away.
They use their stale breads to make bread pudding, breadcrumbs or French toast casserole.
Orr himself has a garden in his backyard, where he grows mushrooms, fruit and herbs. FARM Bloomington uses these ingredients in the restaurant, including edible flowers to decorate certain dishes. Orr also brings home compost from the restaurant to help give nutrients to the garden.
Another local restaurant, Gables Bagels, has found a unique way to keep from throwing away their fresh baked bagels at the end of the day. After closing, whatever is left in the showcase is moved to a bin for later in the week. During their morning prep, they slice these bagels very thin and bake them into bagel chips. They sell bagel chip bags every day in the store.
Another unique tactic Gables is using is mixing their leftover bacon into their maple bacon habanero cream cheese. Ben Yadlosky, a manager at Gables, said he used to work in tandem with an independent guinea pig rescue and give them the leftover tomato scraps, cucumber and carrot peels and any other veggie or fruit scraps they had. He is hoping to bring this back soon, when they have more time and space to store the scraps in the fridge.
“I always like to say, prep less more often,” Yadlosky said. “Making smaller batches less often improves quality and usually leads to less waste at the end of the week.”
Both Soma Coffeehouse and Juice Bar and Two Sticks Bakery have a display near their cash register that says “day olds.” With both businesses producing fresh baked goods daily, there is no guarantee everything will be sold. So, they keep them wrapped up and ready for sale the next day at a discounted price.
Two Sticks Bakery also offers customers a discount if they bring in their own coffee mugs or containers to take home baked goods, co-owner Kassie Jensen said in an email to the IDS.
