Why Companies Should Care about Food Waste

You may have heard about how food waste is a serious environmental problem, but what does it mean for your business?

Who cares if some food is thrown away before it can be eaten? Food waste costs more than you might think, both to your business and for the environment.

What Food Waste Costs to Your Business

According to the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization, thirty percent of food in the U.S. is simply thrown away. This happens for a number of reasons, such as consumers rejecting produce that has imperfections or food that has passed its “best by” dates but is still safe to eat.

It sounds abstract, but it has real costs to your business in food expenditures. Would you tolerate your employees throwing away thirty percent of your printer paper or ink without using it?

Food Waste and the Environment

Food waste also has an impact on the environment by increasing the carbon footprint. The FAO estimates that if food waste was a country, it would have the third highest greenhouse gas emissions in the world (PDF), behind China and the U.S.

What to Do about It?

In the developed world, food waste has two main causes: food that is discarded because of appearance and food that is discarded after it reaches its “best by” date.

Dealing with the former is simple: you should get your employees to accept imperfections on produce. They might complain when they receive irregular-sized vegetables in their salads from the company cafeteria, but as long as the food is otherwise safe and wholesome, they’ll be happy.

The best by dates on non-perishable foods is also something you should look at. If you don’t have to toss out bottles of ketchup when the reach their best by dates, then just leave them on the cafeteria tables or in office kitchens.

While you can make many strides to reduce your company’s food waste, there will likely be some amount of organic waste. Your business can further it’s food waste initiatives by improving organics recycling; helping to keep any unusable leftover out of landfills.

By tackling food waste, your business will pay off in reduced food expenditures and help make a cleaner environment in the long run.