Since our beginning, Food Loops has prided ourselves in thinking no sustainability job was too big.  In fact, we often tell our fans the fastest path to higher diversion rates starts with focusing on the biggest, messiest problems.  Big or small jobs, food waste will always be our signature element, but we’ve learned that the big, messy problems have many more facets to consider. Glass, cardboard, and mixed recycling have all been on our menu for a while.  More recently however, we began adding wood, metal, and even big patches of astro turf to the diversion mix.   To be sure, these leaps have involved a fair amount of failure, most of which have come in not being able to accurately...

It’s hard to go anywhere any more without seeing Help Wanted Signs. This is particularly prevalent in the hospitality industry.  And perhaps for good reason—hospitality work is demanding. If you’ve ever worked in any aspect of the hospitality field, you know it’s all about the fast pace while at the same time meeting the customer’s demands. Hospitality work appeals to a specific kind of person—i.e. someone who’s not afraid of hard work who also appreciates the challenge of exceeding customers’ expectations.  Clearly, not everyone’s sweet spot.   Over 97% of our Food Loops workforce is made up of contract workers. With few exceptions, the 97%, either have full time jobs, school and/or home obligations, juggling other part-time work, or sometimes...

Who would’ve guessed three years ago you could get a job and live anywhere you wanted.  Forced to work at home due to the pandemic, technology rose to the occasion, advancing a generation in the process out of sheer necessity to meet the demands of the time.     Today many people still work from home, or from a place they’d like to live, or from the location they happen to find themselves while on vacation.  Now I’m not suggesting this new capability is for everyone or every job.  Rather, what I am suggesting is that the world is rapidly changing, so how we live and work today will no doubt evolve again in three to five years.    ...

You don’t need me to tell you the entire world has been on a roller coaster ride these past few years. Briefly considered comparing it to going to hell in a handbasket, but given my naturally optimistic nature, going to stick with the roller coaster. Optimism notwithstanding, over that time, we’ve collectively seen and experienced hardships no one could have imagined.  Many of these hardships have revolved around the food we purchase every day.  Now I’m not saying the store being out of cilantro is even remotely close to the end of the world, but until it started happening and fairly consistently, the thought of eating chicken tacos without fresh cilantro was something I couldn’t have imagined living in NWA.  I...

  Sustainability—The Next Big Thing Do you know the story of bottled water?  It’s one that perfectly demonstrates how markets are made from the products people want.  Products, more often than not, that aren’t foreseen by the so-called experts. According to Grandview research, bottled water is a $283 billion industry. Two hundred eighty three billion. In 1977, Perrier launched the first bottled water sold in the United States.  While 45 years may seem like a long time for a product to be on the market, it’s relatively short, especially when you consider the tremendous business it is today. But clearly that’s not always been the case.  I vividly remember being a Unilever sales rep in 1981 in Nebraska and listening...