SPECIAL REPORT
REDUCING FOOD WASTE IS KEY IN BATTLE AGAINST CLIMATE CHANGE
FOOD ROTTING IN LANDFILLS CREATES A "SUPER POLLUTANT." HOW CAN RESTAURANTS CREATE LESS WASTE AND MITIGATE THE DAMAGE?
BY LISA JENNINGS
A fter service, Michael Cimarusti, chef and owner of one of the most ac- claimed fine-dining restaurants in Los Angeles, sometimes goes out- side to look inside his garbage bins. If the trash bin—the one likely headed for a landfill— is not full, he considers it a good day. “I feel like it’s a daily measure of success,” said Cimarusti, who co-owns Providence, a restaurant that has earned a Michelin green star for its sustain- ability efforts, as well as two culinary Michelin stars. Cimarusti is deeply concerned about climate change and the role his restaurants might play in contributing to the worsening environment. And one of his concerns is the amount of food waste that ends up rotting in land- fills. At Providence, for example, Cimarusti tries to give every ingredient “as many lives as possible.” Beef fat is rendered and reused for cooking or made into candles. Bones are used for stock. Trimmings not suitable for the fine-dining menu might end up as tacos at crew family meal. At the end of the week, if there’s over- stock, the meat or fish is offered to staff to take home and feed their families. What’s left on guest plates goes into a compost bin. The restaurant even makes its own chocolate in house, and, after winnow- ing the nibs, the husks of from the beans are used to make a tea sweetener and then, after that, used as mulch in the restaurant’s rooftop garden. Nothing from making the chocolate really leaves the premises, said Ci- marusti, “except in the bellies of guests.” These are things that Cimarusti—who is also working to remove single-use plastics from his restaurants—can control. But is it enough? In the battle to slow climate change, food waste is a huge problem. An estimated one-third of food produced in the U.S. is never eaten, ac- cording to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) in a 2023 report. And wasted food is the single most common material sent to landfills and
incinerated in the U.S. It makes up about 24% of waste that is sent to landfills. There, because it is typically bur- ied and not exposed to oxygen, it rots and creates methane, called a “super pollutant” because it is one of the most-potent greenhouse gas- es. The EPA estimates that wasted food is responsible for 58% of land- fill methane emissions. Federal officials, and some states, have set aggressive goals for reducing the amount of food waste sent to landfills, but efforts so far have fallen far short. Climate change advocates agree that big, sweeping change is need- ed, but those changes require in- vestments in infrastructure and in- novation. As yet, no political leader has emerged to champion those efforts. And while progress is being made in some cities, the burden has largely been placed on business- es and consumers to change their ways. Restaurants, for example, are urged by the EPA to do three things:
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RESTAURANT BUSINESS JANUARY 2025
PHOTO BY CHRISTINA GANDOLFO
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