Earth Month: Here’s how Walt Disney World is working to reduce food waste

ORANGE COUNTY, Fla. — As part of its efforts to reduce food waste, Walt Disney World is tweaking the way it plans menus and recycles scraps.

Theme park officials said their goal is to send zero waste to a landfill.

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“The vision and dedication to drive to sustainable zero-waste models should be the goal for everyone on this planet if we plan to see it thrive for generations to come,” said Michael Gonsalves, a chef at Walt Disney World Resort.

Here’s how the process works:

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• Officials said the full-circle food cycle begins with menu planning to predict how many meals will be served in the parks each day to help prevent food waste before it begins.

• Any scraps left behind are collected in designated food waste bins. Many of those scraps are sent to an off-site commercial composting facility where it naturally breaks down and is recycled into soil, often used for things like gardening, farming and landscaping.

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• In 2021, Walt Disney World Resort officials said the theme park composted 15 million pounds of unusable food scraps.

• Prepared, but not served, meals eligible for human consumption are donated to local food banks such as Second Harvest Food Bank.

• In 2021, Walt Disney World Resort said it donated more than 550,000 pounds of excess prepared food to Second Harvest Food Bank of Central Florida with Disney VoluntEARS spending nearly 3,000 hours at the warehouse, helping to sort and pack food delivered across the region.

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