“You better finish your dinner – there are starving kids in Africa, ya know?” This age-old quip is used by moms all over to get their children to finish their vegetables. Your mom has said it to you, right? It’s truly beautiful to know that all of those mothers had third-world countries in mind when they were preparing dinner for the evening. But how many mothers possess concern about the homeless right here in our own backyard? Well, he’s not a mom, but my friend Zak Elarbi and his crew are doing something about it. They are currently working on a pilot project with the Greater Pittsburgh Area Food Bank to come up with a produce compactor. This compactor could help cut down on over 400,000 pounds of produce waste per year! This waste could instead be compacted and turned into fertilizer so that it can help the next generation of produce flourish.
If this project is successful, then the Greater Pittsburgh Food Bank would be open to extending a relationship with our group here at Pitt, and the next project is always in the works. The following project would consist of forming a relationship between the food bank and local restaurants to put to use the food that is wasted from misorders or food that is prepared incorrectly (to the guests’ specifications). This food is usually just discarded with the rest of the trash at the end of the day. That is pretty wasteful if you ask me, and I’m sure you agree. What we want to do is, instead of just trashing it with the rest of the mess that is left in restaurants when closing time comes around, save those perfectly good meals and sides that customers didn’t want and donate them to the local food bank. So, someone will still get to eat that delicious meal which the chef put so much effort into preparing. Those who would get to indulge in these meals would probably be far more appreciative than many of the customers that stopped by the restaurant that day, and it would be doing wonders for cutting down on food waste.
Darden Restaurants are also helping to end the fight against hunger by donating their surplus food to food banks everywhere. If you are not familiar, Darden restaurants include KFC, Taco Bell, Olive Garden, Longhorn Steakhouse, Pizza Hut, The Cheesecake Factory, Long John Silver’s, Chipotle, Bob Evans, Cracker Barrel, and Red Lobster (just to name a few). Unfortunately, other chains have not followed the example that Darden Restaurants have set, though with a little encouragement I think they would get the hint. So if you’re reading this, please implore your favorite restaurant (fast food or otherwise) to see if they practice any programs like this, and if not, ask why. There is no reason that we should not be helping out one another when the opportunity presents itself, because we have all been in positions where we have been in desperate need of something ourselves.
This is no doubt something we need to be focusing on. According to BusinessInsider.com, the average person wastes around 650 pounds of food per year, which is terribly unfortunate. But with the help of committed restaurant chains like Darden Restaurants and my friend Zak and his team, we can help to combat hunger right here in our own backyards.
Source: http://www.businessinsider.com…