Make Food Not Waste Dinner Series. Credit: Oscar Mendoza

The Unsexy Tool Top Chefs Are Using to Cut Food Waste

10 Minute read

19 Apr 2026

Flora Tsapovsky

Journalist

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It’s not glamorous, but it works. Across top kitchens, chefs are embracing composting systems that cut waste and close the loop in meaningful ways.

Enter Earth Month, and the food industry’s annual press releases come rushing in, promoting sustainability techniques, better-for-the-environment ingredients, and “closing the loop” initiatives aimed at creating a zero-waste system in the kitchen. Increasingly, this is an area where fine dining restaurants are looking to improve, beyond turning their marinades into cocktails, and it has become a niche ripe for competition among innovative gadgets and technologies.

Smart AI cameras tracking waste? That would be Winnow. Powerful biodigesters? Enter Power Knot. While composting and food recycling are not the most glamorous avenues in the ongoing environmental conversation, they likely offer the least degree of greenwashing and the most direct action. The name on everyone’s mind this Earth Day is Mill, a composting company whose seemingly ordinary bin has captured the attention of MICHELIN-decorated chefs nationwide.

“It helps our consciousness knowing that we are taking another step toward being more ecologically responsible. The process is also relatively easy. It is a very doable setup in a restaurant, which makes it realistic and scalable,” says Richard Lee, executive chef at San Francisco’s two-MICHELIN-starred Saison. Since mid-2024, the restaurant has worked with local grower Tucker Taylor to return processed food scraps to the soil, using Mill bins installed in “volume-heavy preparation areas.” The cycle is most evident in Saison’s welcome tea ritual, where, after service, the spent tea returns to the Mill and eventually makes its way back to the farm, contributing to the next harvest.

Capturing all kitchen scraps, from eggshells to animal bones, Mill dehydrates and grinds them into lightweight, odorless food grounds. While Lee collaborates with Taylor, whose culinary garden is located outside the city, the process is more visible at restaurants that grow food on their own property. “There’s a tangible connection between the kitchen, the garden, and the guest experience,” says Edward Costa, managing director at Carneros Resort and Spa in Napa. In the kitchen, he says, food scraps are returned to the resort’s culinary gardens or used as chicken feed, reinforcing a system in which “very little goes to waste.”

Taking things one step further, at SingleThread, Kyle and Katina Connaughton have integrated Mill into an existing composting system that feeds directly into their farm, accelerating the process and improving soil quality. “Daily kitchen prep, including vegetable trimmings, fruit peels, herb stems, floral byproduct, and plate returns, all goes into the Mill unit,” says Kyle Connaughton. From there, it moves into the farm rows that produce the vegetables, herbs, and edible flowers that appear on the tasting menu each evening.

It might be surprising that a tool used in nationally acclaimed restaurants was originally designed for the home kitchen, but it’s also key to Mill’s success. It’s not overly bulky or technical, and it is easy to use. “Chefs have really embraced it,” says brand spokesperson Amanda Plante, which in turn encourages everyday consumers to consider it. “If something works in a MICHELIN-starred kitchen, it tends to work anywhere.”

At HAGS in New York City, chef-owner Telly Justice describes the appeal as both operational and psychological. “Being part of the process, watching the machine turn our scraps into dirt, helps us feel connected to all stages of the product’s life cycle,” they say. “Mentally, it closes that loop.” Chef Mike Fadem of Brooklyn pizzerias Ops and Leo points to another benefit: in New York, where waste removal is priced by weight, reducing volume can have immediate financial impact. “The Mill paid for itself in one month,” he says.

Beyond helping chefs spend less and feel better, Mill’s growing presence is backed by two distinct strategies: a conglomerate-backed expansion, including recent partnerships with Amazon and Whole Foods, and an events series designed to connect behind-the-scenes kitchen work with the diner experience.

The latter takes shape in the upcoming Make Food, Not Waste dinner series, which evolved from a Restaurant Week the brand launched in New York City in 2024. Bringing together Los Angeles and New York chefs, including Heather Sperling of Botanica, Fátima Juárez of Komal, and Jeremiah Stone and Fabián von Hauske Valtierra of Wildair, the series will take place at Los Angeles’s Little City Farm in April, with proceeds going to LA Compost.

The series, says Plante, “are about creating moments where diners can engage with the idea that food isn’t wasted and celebrate thoughtfully prepared meals, with the goal of shifting perception.” Letting restaurants take the lead makes sense. “They help shape culture and are deeply connected to their communities,” Plante adds. “They set expectations for quality, for experience, and for what ‘good’ looks like.”

For chefs, it’s a way to position themselves at the center of the ongoing sustainability conversation. “It’s so inspiring and validating to collaborate with others in the industry who are committed to being as thoughtful, intentional, and sustainable as possible in their work,” says Heather Sperling of Los Angeles’s Botanica. “I love connecting with other chefs, restaurateurs, and businesses for whom sustainability isn’t just a buzzword but is truly at the heart of their philosophy.” Sperling hopes attendees can learn from the collaborative dinner about sourcing, intentionality, and cooking. On their way home, they might even get curious about those bins.