In July, BioCycle published a guide to pretreatment of on-site food waste equipment and systems. The article describes three broad categories of equipment: Dehydrators utilize thermal processes to evaporate the liquid present in food waste. Liquefiers use water and enzymes/microbes to reduce the biochemical oxygen demand (BOD) and create wastewater that is usually discharged to…
A recent Boston Globe article describes how local celebrity chefs and upscale restaurant owners are finding creative ways to reduce food waste. By tracking food loss, utilizing all edible food, and holding employees accountable, these businesses are saving money on purchasing while creating flavorful dishes. Here are a few outstanding examples, showcasing how Massachusetts restaurants…
LeanPath’s Executive Chef, Robb White, recently addressed three of the biggest waste culprits in the kitchen: Overbuying, Fear of Running Out, and Knife Skills. 1. Overbuying is when more food was purchased than could be utilized before it was spoiled, passed the serve by date, or deteriorated in quality. White lists several solutions to help…
LeanPath’s co-founder and CEO, Andrew Shakman, recently wrote a post about funding upfront investment in food waste prevention. Food waste reduction is most effective when preventing the food waste from happening in the first place. The first step to prevention is measurement. However, as Shakman mentions, a common challenge in waste tracking and analytics is…
WasteDIVE recently published an article on Wasteless, a startup aiming to reduce waste while saving customers and retailers money. The technology tags perishable foods in stores by replacing the bar codes on products with an RFID chip. The RFID chip tracks items’ expiration dates, and detects the appropriate price to encourage items to sell. Soon…
Fortune’s column on startups recently published Beth Kowitt’s article featuring the Daily Table, a nonprofit grocery store based in Dorchester, MA. Founded by Doug Rauch, the grocery store aims to reduce wasted food and increase access to affordable nutritious food. Rauch explains that while “best by” or “sell by” dates, for most items, are a…
Jon Frandsen from PBS recently reported on how states are working to reduce food waste. The article describes the growing number of state policies to reduce the amount of food waste sent to landfills. In addition to Massachusetts, four other states (California, Connecticut, Rhode Island and Vermont) already have some form of food waste disposal…
A study conducted by the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health’s Center for a Livable Future analyzes the nutritional composition of wasted food in the United States. The study shines a light on the link between the millions of Americans who are food insecure and the massive quantity of wasted food that could help…
City of Boston Mayor Martin Walsh recently released a Request for Proposals to develop a Zero Waste Plan for the City of Boston. In doing so, Mayor Walsh emphasized that reducing waste would result in positive economic, environmental, and public health impacts for citizens. The zero waste plan, following the model of other cities such…
The Martha’s Vineyard commercial organic waste diversion program will continue after its first year as the island community attempts to develop a local and sustainable system for waste reduction. The Vineyard Gazette details the findings and recommendations of the Island Wide Organics Feasibility Study, which began as the project of Martha’s Vineyard Vision Fellow Sophie…
