St. Louis’ Inaugural Food Waste Challenge

Following in the footsteps of cities like Nashville and Denver, earthday365 and the Green Dining Alliance are proud to bring the Food Waste Awareness Day to St. Louis. Eight GDA members participated in October’s Food Waste Challenge. Over 250 employees and staff took part to help divert over 17,000 lbs. of food waste from landfills.

These are our Green Dining Alliance members who participated in the inaugural
Food Waste Challenge.

Congratulations to Olive + Oak and Alpha Brewing Company for going above and beyond.

Olive + Oak and Alpha Brewing were awarded a $250 gift certificate from local food purveyors Farmstead Foods and Eat Here St. Louis. Earthday-365 extends a big thank you to both companies for generously supporting our challenge.

We’d also like to thank Urban Chestnut for generously hosting our inaugural event. It was a packed house!

Testimonials from the Restaurants

“Though we have been GDA certified for some time, this challenge did bring it to the forefront of our minds & encouraged us to be more intentional about our waste & consumption. We are now much more mindful of our portion sizes & how much we are prepping. We learned a lot about what we can still work on to improve our total food waste, and how we can make similar changes in our own homes.” – SqWires

“With the care and focus around food waste reduction, we have seen a definite increase in staff engagement. We have seen staff begin to take a greater interest in our composting and recycling programs. And some staff have begun to bring in food waste from home as they do not have access to proper composting at home.” – Bar K

“I can see and hear a big shift in thoughts and actions from the entire staff. It has opened many employees eyes to not only food waste, but paper/water/energy waste. It has started the open dialogue of so many green-focused ideas that staff is sharing and implementing on their own.” – Olive + Oak

“Bringing our staff’s attention to the details has been a positive step for us. By focusing on portion control and minimizing mistakes, we’ve managed so save on food waste and improve comps/discounts due to error.” – Mission Taco Joint: Delmar

“I hope that all of our small steps taken during this month continue to be second-nature for our staff, and that we continue to address issues as they become evident and have open dialogue, resulting in even more food saving measures being implemented.” – Olive + Oak

“I am very thankful that we were able to participate in this competition! Just before the competition started we were already looking into restructuring our food waste program, so this has been a great opportunity to take a step back and try out some knew methods.” – Mission Taco Joint: Delmar

“Participating in the Green Dining Alliance’s Food Waste Initiative was an eye-opening experience that has already been the springboard to action and awareness for our entire restaurant.” – Flavor 360

“We will continue to compost. We will continue to find new ways to use up ingredients in creative ways to reduce the amount being wasted. We will educate any new employees on our commitment to reduce our food waste footprint.” – Flavor 360

New Policies Implemented

Some participating restaurants implemented or updated new food waste policies during the challenge. Here are two great examples from Olive + Oak and SqWires:

“Compostable waste as well as landfill waste is closely monitored. All recyclable and compostable items shall be handled and disposed of properly. Attention to reduction of food waste (compostable post-consumer waste, kitchen and bar food scraps, and landfill waste) helps reduce costs, reduce emissions, and contributes to social sustainability.” – Olive + Oak

“Our goal is to prevent food waste, to recycle, and to reuse as much as possible. In the U.S. the FDA estimates that 30%-40% of the food supply is wasted – 35 million tons or 219 lbs. per person yearly. We will train you in what is recyclable, compostable, and reusable. It is your responsibility to follow these procedures detailed in training and updated periodically.” – SqWires

The Data

Here’s a breakdown from our challenge results.

Although the challenge lasted only one month, some restaurants saw real benefits quickly. Sqwires, for example, was able to reduce their food and beverage inventory costs by significantly over length of the challenge.

The lifecycle of wasted food. Click here[PDF] for more information on the results.

Recipes

Carrot Top Vinaigrette from Flavor360

Large bunch of carrot top greens
Apple cider vinegar
Juice from 1 lemon
¼ cup-½ cup maple syrup
Salt and pepper to taste
Olive oil

Combine all ingredients except oil in blender. Blend until greens are pureed. With the blender on, slowly pour in oil through the hole in the top. Blend until well combined. Taste and adjust seasoning as needed.

Don’t need exact amounts for the oil and vinegar – a good rule of thumb is 3 parts oil to 1 part vinegar.

Jalapeno Taco Slaw from Alpha Brewing

1 cup diced pickled onions
½ cup dice tomatoes
½ cup diced pickled garlic lime jalapenos

After prepping tomatoes and onions for service; take the
bits that are not presentable and dice into small squares.

Pickled onions are made from prepped onions that have a dwindling
shelf life that are put into a sour beer brine to keep the onions fresh. 

The jalapeños are diced into small squares also.

 The pickling beer brine will help to pickle the tomatoes in the slaw and keep
all the ingredients from becoming mushy when added together.

Many thanks to our partners and donors and the city of St. Louis!

We couldn’t do this work without our sponsors!