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  • Scott: If youve ever been to New York City, youve probably wondered why there’s so much trash everywhere.

  • What you probably haven’t wondered is if you can eat it.

  • But a lot of that trash is foodmore than 20%.

  • In fact, Americans throw out more food than any other category of trash,

  • including plastic, paper, metal, wood, glass, and rubber.

  • I’m Scott Bixby

  • I’m fascinated by cities and the people fighting to make them better.

  • Today, I’m visiting the man who wants to use leftovers to save the planet.

  • This is Robert. Robert hates food waste.

  • Robert: Out of the 100% of food we produce in this country,

  • how much do you think we consume and how much do you think we actually waste, as a percentage?

  • Scott: I had no idea.

  • Turns out the number is pretty shocking.

  • Forty percent.

  • Yes, almost half of the food produced in the US is simply thrown out.

  • Robert: That 40% of the food that’s being wasted every year is actually

  • enough food to feed the entire American hungry population 3 times over.

  • Scott: How many people is that?

  • Robert: That’s 75 million Americans

  • Scott: Wow

  • Robert: It’s just ridiculous how these issues co-exist

  • Scott: You guys are the ones filling the gap

  • Robert: Well, you also, because youre volunteering.

  • Scott: Oh, right. today I’m volunteering for Robert’s non-profit.

  • It’s called Rescuing Leftover Cuisine, or RLC, and the premise is pretty simple:

  • take excess food from restaurants, and deliver it to food pantries and homeless shelters.

  • Today I’ll be helping one of the 15 or so food runs that RLC coordinates in Manhattan every day.

  • Hunger is nothing new to Robert.

  • Growing up in Queens as the son of Korean Immigrants

  • Robert's parents worked hard to provide for their children.

  • Robert: My parents struggled a lot because they sacrificed a lot.

  • And as children, my brother and I, I mean we didn’t really understand what was going on

  • but we grew up knowing what hunger was and understanding why we have to eat everything that we have

  • because we don’t know when were going to have another meal.

  • Scott: This kind of hunger is called food insecurity.

  • Robert’s family wasn’t necessarily starving, but they would occasionally go hungry in order to make ends meet.

  • In New York City, one in six residents is food insecure, including nearly 1 in every 4 children.

  • And in the United States, more than 49 million people live in food-insecure households.

  • Fortunately, despite their struggles, the sacrifices that Robert’s parents made paid off.

  • He ended up getting a full-ride to NYU, and landed a secure job at JP Morgan.

  • But Robert eventually decided to leave his safe job on Wall St. to pursue a full-time career in leftovers.

  • Scott: What was that like for your parents they made so many sacrifices

  • How did they feel about you moving into a completely different career track than they were planning on?

  • Robert: My parents were very opposed in the beginning

  • Scott: When Robert saw the difference in what he could accomplish with an hour of work on his own

  • Versus an hour of work at a big company, he realized he had to leave finance

  • Robert: When I explained that to my parents, they started to understand

  • And then they actually were the first donors of Rescuing Leftover Cuisine

  • Scott: Today Robert has an army of volunteers from all walks of life

  • And on this run, a handful of them were able to deliver 160 pounds of food in less than an hour.

  • That's enough food to feed 133 people.

  • To see the impact these donations have, I pitched in at one of the shelters where RLC delivers food

  • New York City Rescue Mission

  • Scott: I can't believe it matches my real hair

  • The mission is a full service shelter, but the thing they do the most of, is feed people. A lot of people.

  • CEO: Were feeding in excess of 3 or 400 people every single day

  • We have food probably we couldn't afford to buy

  • We're able to offer to our guests really good meats, great desserts, well prepared vegetables

  • It really is a special thing for our guests

  • Scott: Until groups like RLC are able to expand, the Mission will still have to purchase the bulk of its meals

  • A situation that is all the more ridiculous in a city literally overflowing with food

  • Scott: Obviously buying that much food for 240 people a week is probably going to be...it’s not easy for any non-profit to handle.

  • CEO: I’d love to get to the point where we don’t have to buy any food.

  • There’s enough food in this city that’s thrown away right now that I know that could be the story.

  • Scott: New York City isn’t the last stop for Robert and his partners. Theyve expanded to 12 cities already.

  • But Robert doesn’t want to just save lives, he wants to save the planet.

  • Robert: It's not only about that fact that people could eat that food and not starve

  • but also food waste contributes to a lot of environmental concerns.

  • When food goes to a landfill it's stacked on top of each other and can't aerate which is why instead of emitting normal harmless gases in nature.

  • It actually emits methane gases which is 20x worse than carbon dioxide.

  • Scott: So to reduce as much waste as possible, RLC creates regular reports for the restaurants they partner with.

  • That way their partners can see how much food theyre wasting and adjust their buying habits accordingly.

  • even if it means smaller donations for Robert

  • But convincing restaurant owners is just the beginning.

  • Retail food waste in only part of the problem

  • A large portion of food waste, more than twice that of retail, comes from regular consumers

  • So the next time you buy extra food at the store or prepare more food than you can eat

  • Robert would like you to consider using that time and money to try and help others

  • Robert: It’s my personal belief that there really has to be a big cultural shift

  • But I would say that it begins with individuals and everyone can make a difference.

Scott: If youve ever been to New York City, youve probably wondered why there’s so much trash everywhere.

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