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Diners waste far less food when they're schooled on the harm their leftovers can inflict on the environment. But if they know the food is going to be composted instead of dumped in a landfill, the educational benefit disappears.
When composting enters the picture, educated diners waste just as much as those who haven't learned about shrinking landfill space, dangerous greenhouse gas emissions and water and soil pollution, a new study found.
This presents a tricky situation for policymakers figuring out how to manage food waste, because the top tactics are prevention (through education) and diversion (through composting), said lead researcher Danyi Qi, a graduate student in agricultural economics at The Ohio State University.
"When you do both, they cancel each other out -- they work at cross purposes," said Qi, who is presenting the findings this week at the annual meeting of the Allied Social Science Associations in Chicago.
The original article information is available on OSU's web site.
People don't feed their scraps to the dogs & hogs?
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday January 06 2017, @08:38PM
In the US, restaurant portions are huge. Leftovers and waste is a natural result. One solution is for a restaurant to server smaller portions, and charge a lower price. But the "go big or go home" attitude of US diners likely won't accept that.
(Score: 4, Interesting) by Anonymous Coward on Friday January 06 2017, @08:53PM
Charge full price, serve small portions and then offer free seconds. But you have to put up with some hassle for the free seconds. Stand in line, wait while the kitchen prepares it, something like that. The idea being that the "free seconds" makes it sound like you are still getting the lots of volume for your money but the extra hassle means that in practice most people will just stop after their first serving because the hassle isn't worth it. You won't get 100% of the people to skip seconds. But that would be an unrealistic goal anyway.
(Score: 1) by mechanicjay on Friday January 06 2017, @09:06PM
This is actually a completely obvious and common sense solution! Well played!
My VMS box beat up your Windows box.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday January 06 2017, @09:27PM
This is literally how I feel going to the movie theater. They frequently give free refills on popcorn and pop but I never get them, during the movie or after. Also why I never go to all you can eat buffets as I never get my money's worth. But unlike most Americans I have self control so... yeah.
(Score: 2) by richtopia on Friday January 06 2017, @09:29PM
I believe that is a buffet line. With most restaurants I want to say the labor is the largest factor in price, so cooking two small meals instead of one large meal is significantly more expensive.
(Score: 2) by Runaway1956 on Friday January 06 2017, @09:30PM
Excellent. I've done it myself - sit at the table to finish eating a few bites that I really don't want, because I feel guilty at throwing food away. "Children are starving in Africa!" Just bring me a more sensible portion, and stop worrying about the lard asses who think they need to "super size it". The super sizers can just sit and wait for that super part of their sizing.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday January 06 2017, @09:30PM
Probably the best idea written or cribbed today.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday January 06 2017, @09:32PM
(Score: 2) by Arik on Saturday January 07 2017, @12:49AM
As someone that's crossed the white-collar/blue-collar line a few times I know my appetite is totally different in each mode. After a day in front of the computer I am fascinated with food but satisfied to pick at tiny portions. After a day wrestling on rooftops it's entirely different. The same food may make me happy in each case but the serving sizes needed diverge. If you're talking about a restaurant that serves a diverse community it's going to make more money if it can find some way to meet the needs of both. And historically they have done that by just giving everyone plenty. You don't have to finish it.
Only you do. Americans for generations were taught to clean their plate and never waste, remember there are children starving in $wherever.
No wonder we overeat huh?
And now just when we were starting to get used to the idea that if we didn't need the whole plate of food we could leave some, it becomes a big thing to minimize the garbage.
So compost the garbage. Problem solved?
Apparently not. I get the concern. It just seems to me that there are many more urgent ones to fixate on at the moment. They're trying to imminentize the eschaton, have you noticed?
If laughter is the best medicine, who are the best doctors?
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday January 07 2017, @06:10PM
That's a good idea for mitigating the specific problem of food waste, but restaurants makes more money with a higher turnover rate (all other things being equal).
(Score: 1) by toddestan on Saturday January 07 2017, @07:03PM
There's one Mexican restaurant here that does something similar for it's "all you can eat tacos Tuesday" and "all you can eat enchiladas Wednesday". It's all you can eat, but you've got to flag down the waiter, tell them you want more food, wait for the kitchen to make them, and for the waiter to bring them out to you. They could obviously streamline the process, but they have no interest in doing so (and as far as I can purposely drag their feet a bit). So decent number of people probably just eat the initial small-ish portion they give you, and I'm guessing very few people are patient enough to stick it out for anything more than seconds. I'm sure it also helps them that most people are eating on their lunch break and don't have the time to wait around for more food to come out. The net effect is I've only been there a few times - if I'm hungry I'll go to the pizza or Chinese buffet. Or even Chipotle/Q'Doba where you'll get a decent amount of food quickly without the games.
Someone else pointed out that restaurants usually want to turn over tables faster. The place I mentioned probably gets away with this because it's fairly large and never seems to completely fill up. Otherwise, if it was smaller they'd want you to eat your fill and leave so they can seat someone else.
Many restaurants already give a choice with lunch menus and senior menus which are usually smaller portions at cheaper prices. One solution would be lift the restrictions on these menus to allow anyone to order off the lunch menu anytime.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday January 06 2017, @08:58PM
Around the states I've been in, it's common to take the leftovers home with you. Do other places not do doggy bags?
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday January 06 2017, @09:23PM
My wife does that all the time. Usually she gets a lunch out of it as well as the dinner from the night before.
I try to get a plate size that I will finish as I do not like leftovers much. No you can not eat a 24oz steak and fries and megasalad and 6 breadsticks and 32oz of cola. You fist is about the size of your stomach and both fists together and you will be 'stuffed'. Use that rule of thumb and you will be fine.
Also stay away from the free bread they give out. Also stay away from appetizers unless you have a large group. It fills you up with carbs and you cant eat your dinner...
(Score: 2) by Runaway1956 on Friday January 06 2017, @09:25PM
Doggy bags make sense for some people, in some situations. If you're traveling, for instance, and have no way to refrigerate your leftovers, you might not even consider a doggy bag. Or, the remaining portion is just awfully small for another meal, so you don't bother. Often times, the main course is a rather small portion, and that is made up for by large portions of 'taters and veggies. Few people are going to bother with a doggie bag for their 'taters and green beans. And, in some restaurants, asking for a doggie bag turns into a minor headache. The staff may not be set up to handle such requests, so it takes them 15 minutes just to figure out how to package your food for transportation.
There's really nothing wrong with doggie bags, but they don't always work out.