We waste a billion tons of food every year, accounting for 30-40% of the global supply.
That’s $1 trillion a year…trashed.
It’s a gluttonous problem that you probably weren’t even aware of. But: is there anything we can actually do about it?
Turns out, yes — and Nolan Sulpizio, founder of Clean Plate Innovations, thinks he has a tech-based answer. Full episode below:
Quick sidenote! I’m up for Thought Leader of the Year 2025 by Technical.ly. Vote for me here: https://technical.ly/vote. Select Pittsburgh, then check my name.
The Butterfly Effect of Waste
Think about the last food you threw away (probably this morning). In that moment, a staggering amount of economic loss occurred — from the opportunity cost of where that food could have gone, to the cost of disposing the food itself, to the water and energy and labor that it took to produce it. It adds up quickly.
From households, which account for roughly half of US waste, to large-scale dining, where one fifth of all served food is thrown away, it seems that this behavior is pervasive. After all: once it leaves our plate, it leaves our mind. Who knows where it all goes…and really, who has the time to care about that, anyway?
That’s how, forkful by forkful, a billion tons get tossed.
Can Tech Solve the Food Waste Crisis?
Now look, let he who never left a meal uneaten throw the first stone. We all do it.
And guess what? That behavior is pretty hard to change. It may, eventually — but in the meantime, a more systemic, tech-fueled fix may be on the menu.
Enter Nolan, who founded Clean Plate over a weekend pitch competition…and stumbled onto a business treating waste data like oil. Clean Plate Innovations uses computer vision (good old-fashioned machine learning… not everything has to be AI-washed) to monitor disposal points in real-time. By retrofitting disposal systems with cameras, they provide universities and large food providers with hard data on exactly what is being tossed — and consumers with sheer awareness to the problem.
Nolan’s “business-speak” mission is to become a leader in food waste management and sustainability in large-scale dining operations. But his human-speak approach suggests that, to solve any problem at scale, you need technology that impacts the bottom line.
Why You Should Watch
There are more than a few tidbits here I think you’ll like, no matter how clean you left your last plate:
The AI Reality Check: Why "AI" has become a dirty word in sustainability and why he avoids it.
A Startup in 4 Days: The wild story of how Nolan built his entire business model and pitch deck in a single weekend.
The Future of Food: Plus, the looming regulations that could fine companies $10,000 a day for excessive waste.
The problem of food waste is stunning, but solvable. We just need to start with a little more data behind the disposal.
This is the third installment of the “Six Pack” series, in partnership with Innovation Works.
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Cheers!
Adam
