From restaurants to households, food waste is less about leftovers and more about the systems, mindsets, and design choices that shape how food is produced, served, and valued
Representational Image
In a country that feeds over a billion people, India’s food waste is a stark paradox. Even as hunger and rising food prices dominate public debate, food continues to be wasted at scale across supply chains, restaurants, and homes effecting food security, the economy, and the environment.
The UN Environment Programme’s Food Waste Index Report 2024 estimates that nearly 30 per cent of global food waste comes from the food service sector, placing restaurants and cafés among the biggest contributors in India. Our households generate around 55 kilos of food waste per person each year.
This waste persists alongside pre-retail losses caused by inadequate storage, transport, and cold-chain infrastructure, amplifying economic losses and greenhouse gas emissions, exposing deep inefficiencies across India’s food system.
Finding solutions
1 Problem: Treating food waste as a disposal issue
Food waste is addressed at the end with either composting leftovers or donating excess. This framing misses the real drivers: overproduction, poor planning, entitlement, and a disconnect from the resources behind food.
Solution: Design ‘prevention’ in
For Dr Aarti Gautam, founder of the Amulya Boondh Foundation, prevention starts long before food reaches the bin. “This was never about saving money,” she says. “Money can be earned again. Resources cannot.”
Dr Aarti Gautam bringing sustainability learning to rural classrooms
She began her work in 2015 and formalised Boondh as a Section 8 non-profit in 2019, funding the early years entirely through personal savings, teaching work, family support, and even her wedding jewellery. “That’s how strongly I believed in the work,” she adds.
2 Problem: Food is disconnected from resource realities
Food waste is discussed in isolation, stripped of its links to water scarcity, soil health, farmer labour, and energy use, reducing it to a disposable commodity.
Solution: Reconnect food to water, labour, and land
“Water waste comes before food waste,” explains Dr Gautam. Training in Zero Budget Natural Farming under Padma Shri Subhash Palekar exposed her to the true cost of food. “One bowl of rice represents water, soil, labour, storage, and transport. We throw it away because we’re full or bored. This is the mindset that needs rework,” she adds.
3 Problem: Composting mistaken for sustainability
Composting is used to justify overcooking and over-serving because waste can be “managed.”
Solution: Treat composting as a last resort
“Composting is the best outcome of waste, not the best use of food,” argues Dr Gautam. “If you cook only what you need, there is no waste to manage,” she adds.
4 Problem: Entitlement at the plate
Weddings, conferences, and buffets encourage waste through entitlement. The belief that paying permits excess, and social pressure compound this, with diners overloading plates to avoid having to refill and being judged as gluttonous.
Solution: Reset behaviour at the point of consumption
“Take only what you can finish. Go back for refills without shame. Money doesn’t give you the right to waste and this must be ingrained early on,” she adds.
5 Problem: Doggy bags
Leftover food is excused for donation, turning donation into a guilt offset.
Solution: Redefine what donation means
“Donation is giving something you yourself value. Like blood; it doesn’t come back easily. The same standard must apply to food. Ask yourself if you would eat what you’re offering someone else?” she questions.
6 Problem: Waste disguised as education
In schools, cooking activities and themed lunches often generate waste. Children assemble dishes without understanding ingredients, while parents are forced to buy excess due to fixed market quantities.
Solution: Teach food literacy, not performance
Dr Gautam advocates practical food skills like cutting vegetables, fermenting curd, kneading dough that are grounded in everyday cooking.
7 Problem: Convenience-driven overconsumption
Quick-commerce platforms and deep discounts normalise over-ordering in the name of ease.
Solution: Pair access with restraint
“Ordering food you don’t need because it’s convenient is still waste, even if it’s eaten later. Ease must be matched with intention.” she says.
The core issue: Mindset, not leftovers
At the heart of food waste is culture. “Food is a basic necessity; luxury food is not. The ability to buy excess has blurred the value of resources behind it,” she adds.
Change begins before the bin.
“Food waste isn’t about leftovers. It is about entitlement, discrimination, and forgetting the value of resources. Change doesn’t begin in the bin, it begins in the mind,” she concludes.
Tackling food waste in the F&B industry
In the F&B industry, waste is rarely a disposal issue. It is the result of upstream decisions that include how menus are planned, food is sourced, and demand is predicted
Problem: Waste begins before service
Solution: Build prevention into operations
Over-ordering, rigid menus, and forecasting based on assumptions generate surplus early on. When menus don’t respond to seasons or sales patterns, excess becomes routine, treated as an operational inconvenience rather than a design flaw. Avinash Kapoli, co-founder, Kompnay Hospitality, recommends smaller, more frequent ordering, seasonal menus, and ingredient cross-utilisation to reduce excess.
Ranbir Nagpal
Kitchens driven by real-time sales data stay aligned with actual demand. Ranbir Singh Nagpal, founder, Yazu Hospitality, recommends intelligent forecasting, local sourcing, flexible menus, and shorter supply chains to prevent excess. “When planning adapts, sustainability becomes business as usual.”
Problem: The perception around ‘imperfect’ food
Solution: Reframe imperfection as intelligence
Nagpal suggests brands must shift the narrative through confident presentation, transparent sourcing, and flavour-led menus. Normalisation happens when these ingredients appear as everyday offerings, not sustainability specials. Chef Sombir Chaudary, Kompnay Hospitality, says, “Brands decide what feels acceptable, so its better to integrate the imperfect seamlessly without labels, discounts, or moral messaging. “The key is confidence, not concession.”
Problem: Household waste framed as consumer failure
Solution: Industry-led systems that make waste harder
(L) Avinash Kapoli; (R) Chef Sombir Choudhary
Household food waste is often blamed on poor planning or storage, ignoring the systems that shape this behaviour. Think confusing date labels, oversized packs, inconsistent availability, and overproduction. “The industry must lead before consumers can follow,” says Kapoli. Chef Harsh Shodhan, founder, The Gourmet Kitchen and Studio, suggests AI-driven forecasting, smarter production planning, and packaging designed for clarity and preservation to reduce waste at source and encourage consumers to reduce waste without effort.
Problem: The ‘just in case’ mindset
Solution: Make waste visible
Chef Harsh Shodhan
Buffer ordering and over-prep are built into operations to avoid stock-outs. When unsold food isn’t tracked, waste stays invisible and habitual. Behaviour shifts when systems change. Smaller default portions, tighter prep planning, and ingredient cross-use reduce excess. Simple nudges like tracking leftovers or limiting daily prep turn waste into data. New drinks are tested before menu rollout, preventing unnecessary inventory. The same logic applies at home. Clear storage guidance, flexible pack sizes, reminders, and rewards for low-waste behaviour quietly reinforce better habits.
Problem: A system built for volume, not outcomes
Solution: Design waste out of the system
Success is measured by how much is sold, not how much is eaten. “In a waste-free world, throwing away edible food will feel outdated,” says Kapoli. Demand-led production, flexible portions, and smart freshness indicators shift focus from volume to outcomes. Choosing imperfect food becomes normal; wasting edible food feels inefficient.
Problem: Consumers blamed for a system they didn’t design
Solution: Design the right choice into the system
“Waste reduction works when responsibility is shared not shifted,” says Nagpal. When industry-led design makes low-waste behaviour the default; consumers follow naturally. “While mindful consumption is the consumer’s responsibility, net-zero food waste is only possible when every touchpoint takes ownership,” says Shodhan. From production and packaging to logistics and forecasting, every link must design against waste with consumers supported by systems, not burdened by them. When that happens, zero waste can turn into a reality.
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