By one estimate, restaurants in the US alone throw out somewhere between 22 billion to 33 billion pounds of food—a jaw-dropping amount to say the least. And while the environmental impact that food waste causes isn’t stopping restaurants from throwing food into the dumpster, the results of a new study might just provide a financial incentive for restaurants. The study, which took financial data from 114 restaurants in 12 countries that took actions to reduce food waste, found that for each dollar invested, restaurants saved an average of $7. The restaurants that saved the most food and money usually started by carefully measuring waste and then found ways to reduce production when needed, order less food from suppliers, or repurpose scraps into new meals.
If climate change can’t stop restaurants from wasting food, this study might
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