High-end restaurants waste an incredible amount of food — here's what they're doing to fix that

Courtney Verrill

The American restaurant industry has a big food waste problem. A 2014 study by the Food Waste Reduction Alliance found that 84.3% of unused food in American restaurants ends up being disposed of, while 14.3% is recycled, and only 1.4% is donated.

Many restaurants and organizations have adopted the mission to end food waste, especially since so many people across the country suffer from a lack of access to high-quality food. One of those is Feedback, an environmental organization that has planned a number of campaigns to bring about global awareness of the issue. 

On May 10, Feedback hosted a food festival called "Feeding the 5,000", where executive chefs from three notable New York-based restaurants gave away 5,000 free meals made from leftover food. All of the ingredients used in the meals would have been tossed out otherwise. 

We got a chance to chat with Dan Barber, executive chef and co-owner of Michelin-starred restaurant Blue Hill, about his partnership with Feedback and Feeding the 5,000.

According to an analysis by the Green Restaurant Association, a single restaurant can produce approximately 25,000 to 75,000 pounds of food waste in one year. Here, a Feedback volunteer plates a meal during the Feeding the 5,000 festival in New York City's Union Square.

Source: EndFoodWasteNow, Green Restaurant Association

A 2012 study by the Natural Resources Defense Council found that Americans throw away almost half of their food, amounting to $165 billion wasted annually.

Source: Huffington Post

Food waste is not just a problem in America, but across the globe. About 1.3 billion tons of food are wasted globally each year, and around 40% of that comes from restaurants.

Source: Restaurants.com