Every week, Matthew Simpson pays around $200 so his restaurant’s leftovers don’t end up in the landfill.
For Simpson, owner and executive chef of The Springwood in Whitby, managing food waste is an ongoing challenge in the restaurant industry.
“We’re trying to do it the right way, and they really don’t make it easy,” Simpson said, describing the difficulty of separating organic waste in a shared dumpster setup.
His restaurant shares a mixed waste bin with other businesses in the plaza where his restaurant is located – a situation he says is common across the industry, especially in more urban areas.
According to the FoodMesh website, the food service industry in Canada is responsible for 13 per cent of edible food ending up in the garbage.
Restaurants often deal with large volumes of leftover ingredients, expired inventory and uneaten food. Without proper systems to separate or redistribute waste, much of it ends up in landfills.
“When organics end up in a landfill, they create methane,” said Megan Czerpak, head of communications for FoodMesh and campaign lead for Love Food Hate Waste Canada. “It’s a greenhouse gas emission, which is at least 28 times more potent than CO2.”
Beyond environmental damage, food waste in restaurants also represents a significant financial loss. Many restaurants must pay to dispose of organic waste while also absorbing the cost of food that was never sold or eaten.
Some restaurants are beginning to reduce waste through better inventory tracking, adjusting portion sizes and designing menus that use overlapping ingredients.
Others are working with food rescue organizations that redistribute surplus food to charities and food banks. “There is one in four Canadians who lack access to nutritious food while food is being wasted in great quantities,” Czerpak said.
Platforms such as FoodMesh connect businesses with local organizations that can use unsold food rather than letting it go to waste.
Composting programs and organic waste separation can also prevent food scraps from reaching landfills.
However, Simpson said in his nearly 20 years of experience he has noticed infrastructure and shared waste systems can make that difficult for some businesses.
“I would say 90 per cent of restaurants don’t separate organic waste,” Simpson said.
His restaurant does but they have to pay for compost bins to be picked up by a private company.
They also try to use every scrap of food to reduce waste. For example, they use everything but the stem from a bell pepper.
He said it will take more restaurants focusing on sustainability over profits to make significant change, as well as more cooperation between businesses, municipalities and food recovery organizations.