Going Zero Waste Will Be A 'Selling Point' For Restaurants, Says Corby Kummer

Cropped image of female chef chopping leek on cutting board with colleagues in background at restaurant — The New England Center for Arts and Technology, or NECAT, matches adults having trouble finding employment with food industry jobs through a 16 week culinary arts and life skills training program.

Hannah Uebele is a producer for Under the Radar with Callie Crossley and previously worked as associate producer for Boston Public Radio. She graduated from Tufts University with a B.S. in English and Environmental Studies. She's a proud Delawarean but has found herself saying "wicked" more and more often, so the Bostonian metamorphosis is well underway.Contact: hannah_uebele@wgbh.org

January 07, 2020

Updated August 07, 2023

Food writer Corby Kummer spoke with Boston Public Radio on Tuesday about a zero waste Brooklyn restaurant that could change other restaurateur's relationship with food waste.

"This restaurant, called 'Rhodora,' is trying to figure out how never to have to give anything to the dump that could have been recycled or composted," Kummer said. 'It's not easy to do, but I do think it's going to be a selling point."

Zero waste restaurants may start to gain popularity among environmentally conscious consumers, Kummer noted.

"I do think that young people are going to choose this and look at this as a reason to eat in the restaurant," he said. "Rhodora is just starting, and [going zero waste] is expensive and complicated, but they've got to blaze the trail."

Kummer is a senior editor at The Atlantic, an award-winning food writer, and a senior lecturer at the Tufts Friedman School of Nutrition and Policy.