Google, Airbnb, Other Tech Giants Waste Tons Of Food. This Group Rescues It

While getting free lobster, Sriracha vanilla yogurt and crab artichoke ravioli at work may boost collaboration among employees, it also generates an unwanted byproduct -- plenty of food waste.  In Silicon Valley, where booming tech companies provide ample amounts of gratis grub, having hordes of perfectly edible leftovers has become the norm. Many of these companies, though, won’t send the uneaten fare to the trash. A number of them have partnered with Food Runners, a local nonprofit that picks up food from companies and distributes it to people in need. And the need in San Francisco is "tremendous," according to L’Ann Bingham, Food Runners community relations representative. There, one in seven people struggles with hunger, according to Feeding America.  The partnership between Food Runners and area tech companies is so strong that they provide about half of the goods Food Runners retrieves, BuzzFeed reported last year. The group delivers 5,000 meals a week, Bingham told The Huffington Post. The nonprofit collects food from 500 companies. Google, where employees are never more than 200 feet away from free food, is one of the biggest donors. Other participating tech companies include Twitter, LinkedIn and Craigslist, Bingham added. The group picks up breakfast and lunch food and the "runners" immediately deliver it to the recipients. The meals are typically at their expiration date and the organization doesn't store anything, Bingham said....
Source: Science - The Huffington Post - Category: Science Source Type: news