The thought of food leftovers probably induces a dread of soggy sandwiches, wilted salad and questionable meat loafs and shepherd's pies. But in the U.S., food leftovers are actually a huge social problem.
Of all the food the U.S. produces, 40% goes uneaten and becomes food leftovers that are sent to the landfill. An organization in New York City, called Rescuing Leftover Cuisine, aims to combat this issue. RLC collects food leftovers from restaurants around the city and donates it to homeless shelters.
The concept is simple, but RLC puts a lot of planning and thought into the initiative. It has its own specially designed app that allows restaurants to report when they have excess food and then notifies available volunteers in the area. It even produces reports for the restaurants so they can easily identify where and when food waste is happening -- although this may mean fewer donations for RLC in the long run, it helps reduce the enormous amount of food leftovers wasted by Americans.
Key Themes Behind This Trend
- Food Rescue
- The trend of using food that would otherwise go to waste to help fight hunger in local communities, leveraging technology through specially designed apps.
- Sustainable Supply Chains
- The trend of seeking to create sustainable supply chains in the food industry, driving innovation in logistics to reduce food waste and increase food accessibility for underserved populations.
- Community Engagement
- The trend of engaging local communities in food rescue initiatives, building partnerships between restaurants, volunteers, and shelters to address food insecurity and waste on a local level.
Where This Applies
- Food Services
- Opportunities to innovate in food waste reduction and management, including the use of technology to facilitate food donations while also improving supply chain efficiencies.
- Logistics
- Opportunities to create more sustainable and efficient food supply chains, reducing waste and increasing accessibility through innovative transportation and distribution models.
- Social Services
- Opportunities to partner with food rescue initiatives to help tackle food insecurity in local communities, facilitating access to healthy and nutritious foods for underserved populations.
