Say what you want about McDonald’s (and folks around the world have plenty to say), at least they’re experimenting with environmental responsibility. In the UK, anyway.
The world’s largest fast food chain is currently undertaking two experiments. First, McDonald’s is finally doing what many companies have done–turning to biodiesel as an environmentally friendly fuel source. Sorry “grease car” enthusiasts, the […]

Beginning in December, diners in Hong Kong will receive a discount for asking for less rice than usual. Sure, it’ll only be one day a month, but it’s still a neat idea. As the South China Morning Post (log in required) reports:
From December, the first Wednesday of each month will be designated “Less Rice Save Money” […]

No doubt taking a cue from my vociferous stance, an Inuit leader told the Canadian Navy not to dump food waste (and sewage) in arctic waters.
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Here’s an interesting CNN video report on food waste in Hong Kong. A whopping one third of their waste stream is food, compared to 17 percent in the U.S. […]

At the beginning of each week, I try to give readers one tip on how to avoid food waste. This week’s advice: If you don’t like eating leftovers, don’t order an appetizer and an entrée. 
Take a look at the nutritional information from Chili’s or the Macaroni Grill. Feel like some pasta and meatballs? Here’s 2,400 calories, or […]

At the beginning of each week, I try to give readers one tip on how to avoid food waste. This week’s advice: Don’t dress a big salad.
You can avoid wilty lettuce waste by serving the salad “dry.” With the dressing on the side, diners can disperse it as they see fit. One of my real pet peeves is when […]

Kottke.org brings the bread menu holder to our attention. Le Pain Quotidien, a Belgian chain with franchises in N.Y. and L.A, uses bread with slices to store menus.
“Cool idea” is the prevailing sentiment in the commentary below Jason Kottke’s photo of the menu holder on flickr. I have to disagree. While it’s by no means the most flagrant wasting I’ve seen, it sets a […]

Wasted Food reader Brian recently commented that making food waste awareness trendy would really reduce squandering. In my mind, trendy = celebrities. As I mentioned in my response to that comment, I’m picturing Brad and Angelina leaving a restaurant with doggy bags as photographers snap away.
Barring that miracle, who else would take up this issue? We could probably get Ed […]

Every restaurant, not matter how careful, produces some food waste. Sometimes it originates in the kitchen due to overordering, overpreparing or the inevitable peels and scraps. Often, it comes from the dining room, where diners return half-eaten plates.
One way or another, restaurant dumpsters end up full of wet, heavy organic waste. Some of it was edible when discarded (as freegans well know), some […]

One wasted food topic gaining steam on the blog charts is the squandering on the Fox show “Hell’s Kitchen.” The show has celebrity chef Gordon Ramsay runs 12 would-be restaurateurs through a Survivor-like wringer to find the chef who’ll run a Las Vegas restaurant. 
TV-centric bloggers have noted the waste in an episode recap. Others recapped the ‘no waste […]

Whenever the discussion of food waste comes up, the 27 percent figure soon follows. According to the USDA’s helpful research wing–the Economic Research Service (ERS)–that amount of the edible food available for human consumption in the US at retail, restaurant and consumer levels is “lost to human use.”
My 3 cents:
1. It’s incomplete. It only counts […]