Guest Post: Effective Ways Restaurants Can Reduce Waste and Recycle

Contributed by Erich Lawson, blog writer for Compactor Management Company.

Restaurants produce a large amount of waste, from leftover food to kitchen supplies, and packaging. Restaurants, fast food chains, and bars will realize that a significant decrease in food waste and a conscious effort to recycle will have a massive impact on their costs for waste disposal.

Restaurants can implement waste management strategies to save money in the long run and be a business that contributes to the well-being of the environment. Here’s an objective look at how businesses can reduce waste and recycle effectively.

 

5 Ways to Reduce Waste

 

1. Avoid Over-Purchasing

When you purchase too many products, there’s a good chance of waste and spoilage. Keep an inventory handy and adjust orders as and when required. Looking through a manual list can be both tedious and time-consuming.

And an inventory tracking system helps you analyze inventory levels, as well as predicts current and future spending needs. A lot of inventory tracking systems track orders which allow you to edit when necessary. They are detailed to the extent that it calculates quantities and ingredients used for every dish, keeping track of the stock used and what needs to be further purchased.

2. Store Items in the Order of Purchase

To be sure you utilize items in the order of your purchase, store items accordingly. Keep the fresher purchases at the back of the cabinet, while the old ones should be kept at arm’s reach. Train employees follow the order so that old purchases are not wasted.

3. Inspect Deliveries

A lot of deliveries may include close-to-expiry meals and perishable items. Some items may also be received with spills or the packaging may be left open. Make sure you inspect deliveries and make adjustments to your inventory accordingly.

4. Store Food Appropriately

If you’re not careful with those huge containers, you might spill half of what you planned to store. Be very sure that you check for poor packaging or open containers right from the beginning so that they can be transferred into new containers.

5. Use All of Your Stored Food

Make sure you use up all your stored food before it expires. It could be just a small bunch of celery sticks or a few potatoes which you could add to soups or salads. Don’t throw any food items away because then you’ll get into the habit. The whole idea for you to make purchases is so that you don’t waste a single bit of it.

 

5 Ways to Recycle Restaurant Waste

 

1. Consider a Trash Compactor

A roll-off self-contained compactor is a tool of convenience which requires fewer trips to the dumpster. Compacted trash occupies a lot less space than a regular bag of trash and you won’t have to take out the trash as often.

2. Use a Baler to Bale Carboard

Cardboard balers significantly reduce large amounts of discarded paper products and waste produced by companies. Recycler services are becoming an important part of small to large-scale businesses that pick up recycled materials.

3. Recycle Food Waste

Restaurants generate a lot of waste over time which can be recycled. Create a list of what can and cannot be recycled. Here’s a quick example:

Can be Recycled	Cannot Be Recycled
Mold or expired food	Liquids like milk
Tea bags and coffee grounds	Oil or liquid fat
Pasta, rice, and beans	Packaging of any kind
Meat, fish, eggs, dairy products, bread	Materials that are not food waste

Team up with a local food recycling collection service that collects food waste. This food waste is often mixed with garden waste to create a natural fertilizer or can be used separately.

4. Recycle Plastic Bottles, Cans, Paper Materials, and More

There’s a good amount of materials like plastic bottles, cardboard boxes, cans, wooden pallets, and paper materials that can either be recycled or reused. Create an additional recycling bin that collects this waste on a monthly basis. Sign a contract with a local company that can collect your recycling waste.

5. Educate

Educate your employees about your recycling program and make it a part of the training program. Get a trusted employee to be responsible for evaluating, reporting, and verifying details of the program and celebrating small wins.

 

You may also enjoy:

• Sustainability Inside the Kitchen
• Sustainable Practices Outside the Kitchen

Author Bio: Erich Lawson is very passionate about the environment and is an advocate of effective recycling. He writes on a wide array of topics to inform readers on how modern recycling equipment can be used by industries to reduce monthly wastage bills and increase recycling revenue. You can learn more about environment saving techniques by visiting his blog on Compactor Management Company.