Fast Food: A Natural Source of Waste

Fast food is a staple within American society. The convenience, deals, coupons that come in the mail, and tastiness make fast food restaurants a go-to pick for many of our food choices. For my family and I, we go out to eat at McDonalds or KFC at least once every two weeks to fill our cravings for this type of food.

After studying the topic of food waste in our class, it has made me realize the vast amounts of food waste sources there are. My solution introduces a plan that allows fast-food restaurants to have an opportunity to save and donate food to those in need; some examples of individuals that can be affected by this are the food insecure, financially troubled, and the homeless. Specifically, I want to explore reducing waste from returned orders by customers and end-of-day cleanup at fast-food restaurants as a food-waste solution.

Presenting the Facts

A broad reason for a need of a solution is the enormous amounts of waste food establishments produce. Around the US every year, we waste an average of 38.5 billion pounds of food from US restaurants (“How Is Restaurant Food Waste Recycled?”). This only counts the waste from restaurants, so the number beyond this is much more once you factor in personal waste from people. 

Another problem that stems from food waste is the methane it produces during decomposition. In 2007, 23 percent of the world’s methane emissions came from landfills; food waste yielded the most methane (Bloom 17). All sources of food waste contribute to global warming, which is another important issue for the future.

In fast-food restaurants, Jonathan Bloom states that food is made and placed inside a heater; within this heater, chicken patties are stored for up to an hour, thirty minutes for fish, twenty minutes for chicken nuggets and burgers, and just seven minutes for French fries (121-122). And after these set times, the food is thrown away to be replaced by newly cooked ones. 

• With an estimated 200,000 fast-food restaurants in the US, preserving these uneaten items would put a huge impact on the amount of food waste restaurants produce by reducing global emissions and providing food for people (“Fast Food Restaurants”).

    There are also a number of programs that aid in donating food. Organizations like Feeding America is an example of a domestic hunger-relief group in the US. They work with their staff to take food before it goes to waste and repurpose it to people that need it. Their website also holds information regarding waste, products, and blogs that help educate people about reducing food waste (Brett).

•      Jonathan Bloom found that fast-food restaurants waste up to 10 percent of their items due to the time limits they put on them while they are set aside (Bloom 122). Fast-food restaurants like McDonald’s earn billions of dollars in revenue. In fact, this last quarter McDonald’s earned $5.66 billion from their sales (McDonald’s Revenue). This money could be put toward making connections with food waste prevention organizations and methods of preserving left over food at their restaurants.

      The Interview

     In an interview I conducted with a friend, I was able to gather a deeper understanding of how food and waste was managed at a fast-food restaurant. Here are some key questions that I asked regarding food waste:

     1. What does the manager tell you to do with leftover food after closing?

• "A lot of the fried stuff and smaller items were thrown away. Things like potatoes and cinnabons are thrown away."

       2. Are you allowed to take food home from Taco Bell? If not, what policy or rules prevent you from doing this?

• "Technically you are supposed to throw it away, but we are able to take home left-overs that are uneaten."

        3. Are there any preventative waste measures at Taco Bell?

• "There is not. If anything is not used when cooking, it is thrown away."

        4. What is done with food that is completely uneaten and is returned by a customer?

• "Any food that is brought back to us is automatically thrown away because we do not know if they had done anything to it."

        5. Do you think it is possible to change the way fast food chains handle waste?

• "It is hard to keep food because a lot of the orders are unique and not an item that is commonly ordered. We do keep popular items that are rejected at the drive through to reserve in a few orders; if it is not ordered we throw it away. If this happens in the lobby, we usually let the customer keep the item and serve them the correct food free of charge. If they do not want to keep the item, we just throw it away."

        6. How much does the quality of a food product matter before serving it to a customer?

• "It matters to a point. I’m not going to serve somebody rock-hard potatoes. However, some of my co-workers give out food in the worst quality and that food will usually be brought back and thrown away."

        7. Does the manager keep track of how much food is used every day?

• "Yes. In the morning, middle of the day, and at night after we close there are counts that are done. And, after putting in all the numbers for the counts it will show on the computer if you’re over or under product based on product sales. So, if we sold tacos, it will tell is if we are over or under the amount of beef we should be using."

        8. How often do you see customers throw away unfinished food?

• "Pretty often. A lot of the time they would leave half-finished burgers and half-finished meals all the time."

        9. How do you view other fast-food restaurants knowing about the waste they produce?

• "I think food waste within fast-food chains are more prevalent than other food places like regular restaurants. Our expiation dates are really short and the policies we have kind of encourage food waste."

        10. What was your view of working in fast food before you started?

• "I knew it was bad from the start before I went to work at Taco Bell. I did not know it was going to be super stressful, but I had to do a lot more work than I initially thought."        

   Discussing the Interview

    

    This interview gives an idea of how often food is thrown away in situations such as a customer returning an item, an item that has sat out for too long, and customers willingly throwing away food that they over-ordered. And just like our standards of only choosing perfect fruits and vegetables at the grocery store, this restaurant also suffers from needing to present high quality and fresh food.

    

    What also surprised me was that employees were technically not able to take home leftovers at the end of the day. With an estimated 10.5% of households that struggle with acquiring food, letting those who work these restaurant jobs take leftovers home could impact their access to food, and possibly lessen financial stress ("Key Statistics & Graphs")

   How Would This Solution be Achieved?

To spread the idea of preserving leftovers from fast-food restaurants would take many people, large amounts of time, and several different methods.

• Social Media: Social media is a strong platform for gathering attention towards a problem or topic. Using it would not only help spread awareness of waste in fast-food restaurants, but also educate everyone about how much food is wasted. From oursocialtimes.com, they claim that influencers are paid $12,500 to $300,000 per post when sponsored by a company/organization. This could easily cost millions of dollars to get key figures in social media to take notice and speak about food waste.
  
• Billboards: Billboards are a common way of seeing an advertisement, and just having it linger as a thought in your brain. In a study by the Arbitron National In-Car Study, they found that 71% of people look at billboards. Those people would learn about an event, or even go to a restaurant that was advertised (Tarsah).
• Commercials & Online Advertising: Phones, tablets, and computers are abundant in today's society. TV and video hosting websites often have commercials that play before or in the middle of a viewers selected show/video. To nationally broadcast a commercial, it would cost $115,000 to air it. A website like YouTube would cost $10-$30 per 1,000 views ("HOW MUCH DOES A 30"). 

   Final Thoughts & Reflection

      Fast-food restaurants are solely responsible for policies, time limits, and rules that encourage food waste. Like any issue, it will not be focused on if the general populous is not aware of it. Garnering enough attention towards this issue would be extremely difficult due to variables like money (companies not wanting to incorporate ideas) and publicizing the plan on a large-scale. 

    Reflecting on the semester, CRE101 and its learning content have changed how I think, especially with our frequent application of the book “Asking the Right Questions” with “American Wasteland” and other assignments. I have been taking this class alongside an English course and chapters 4-7 of ARQ, which covered ambiguity, assumptions, fallacies, and source credibility. These chapters and assignments helped me read, write, and analyze sources more effectively throughout the semester. Food waste also has made me realize that I should eat and preserve my food more properly, and even helped me be more reserved in other areas like spending money.