I read the other week about a restaurant that was looking to tackle the issue of food waste by serving meals made with ingredients that were past their used by date. The story attracted a mix of opinions, ranging from those in support of reducing food waste whilst still serving what are ostensibly healthy meals, all the way to those worried about the health risks. Projects such as this are growing in popularity, with Bloomfield Farm also attempting to reduce food waste by offering up food via social media when it was approaching its used by date.
Another interesting restaurant is also tackling food waste, albeit from a different angle. The BIOMAT restaurant in Austria wants to encourage composting, so as part of Vienna Design Week offered diners a free meal at the restaurant if they donated their compostable waste.
The project was a collaboration between the renewable resource company BIOMAT and the Vera Wiedermann Design Studio. The process was a straightforward one. Diners would bring along their compostable goods. They’d be weighed and assigned an energy value, with a voucher then given to the donor for the equivalent value that they could use in the restaurant, either for part of or for an entire meal. The compostable donations were then sent to a local urban farm where they were broken down into biogas for use in cooking.
Sadly the BIOMAT concept was only in operation for the week of the festival, but it highlighted the way interesting approaches can be taken towards social problems. New York based Hello Compost is a similar scheme, with their food waste donations traded in for fresh food that is then donated to low income families in the area.
These kind of projects serve as exemplary examples of how a little creative thinking can turn traditional problems into sustainable solutions. Although only in operation for the duration of the week-long festival, the BIOMAT concept points towards a sustainable cycle of reuse that other restaurants could emulate, turning their own food waste into a resource to power their kitchens. Could this idea be turned into a more long-term solution?
What a fantastic idea. Surely this is something other restaurants or cafes could easily replicate?
Brilliant idea. I'd love for my local cafe to use this sort of concept.
My only concern would be transporting it. My food bags tend to get a bit soggy after a few days. I wouldn't fancy taking that on the bus to my favourite cafe 🙂
Yes, that would be an issue for me as well.
I bet there are about a billion ways to innovate like this, from reducing waste to reducing hunger and bringing people together as part of a responsible community. It takes effort and too many times companies are stuck in a "business as usual" mindset. But I think we need a couple of pioneers like this and then people who aren't on board will start to seem very retro. Really neat concept.
These are really innovative solutions. I also wish that there was a way for restaurants in the US and other rich countries to efficiently transport all he food they don't use to the poorer and mal-nourished counties. That would be a simply awesome way of reducing the food that gets thrown away. And of-course if they cannot, then composting would work really well. Thought-provoking post, as usual, Adi.
Well I guess that's a whole other issue. Most western economies (certainly America and Europe) heavily subsidise domestic agriculture, thus making it hard/impossible for farmers in developing countries to compete. There must be a whole load of inefficiencies in the system that could be ironed out if there was sufficient will from those in charge.
Yeah, I am totally for such innovation as well, particularly with the food industry where there is such waste. My wife has a catering business and helps out once a week with a food wholesaling store. It's insane how much stuff she can recuperate there for cooking at home and sometimes even at her cafeteria, even though regulations are quite strict. An example? Chocolate has a due date but really, this stuff can be good up to a year, if not more, after the due date. Or just take a look at all the bunny shaped chocolates after Easter, stores basically give them away even though they are still very much OK. My wife melts the chocolate into fondue or sometimes chocolate cakes or brownies, and there are many other ways to recuperate.
It take creativity, but also some flexibility with the policies in place, since health risk do exist, but they should not become prison-like with restrictive conditions conducive to waste…
I suppose it's good that she can at least reclaim that food and put it to use. I read recently about using leftover food for animal feed, but even that is pretty tightly regulated these days. It seems at times that we're going a bit over the top with health and safety.
Wow…. these are some fantastic ideas indeed!!
>>Could this idea be turned into a more long-term solution?<<
Now that, IMO, is the million dollar question. I'm sure long-term implementation of such ideas, if practiced on a large-scale, can yield huge benefits.
I see Sainsbury have become the first supermarket in the UK to power their store purely by food waste. Collaborating with waste recycling company Biffa, the company has developed a facility close to its Cannock, West Midlands store that has enabled it to leave the grid completely.
Good find, thanks for sharing Steve.