How Businesses Can Save More By Seriously Considering Waste

By Mark E Patrick

When it comes to the list of priorities for a chef or restaurateur, food waste probably finds itself wedged somewhere between the Dish Washer's pruning fingers and the Dessert Chef's sweet tooth. Unfortunately, waste becomes a given - and as is the case far too often, when something's taken for granted it often ends up having a far greater impact in the long term than we ever would have thought. That is why concerns like waste can become a slow but nagging drain on any business' bottom line, but it doesn't have to be that way.

Today, home business opportunities are everywhere. Some of them are legitimate, some not-so-much. However, while most of them tend to offer either a product or a service - very few of them attempt to deal with the very real but overlooked problem of waste.

But you might wonder, "What if I don't have the skill to run a successful home business?" Fortunately, that's actually not as big of an issue as you would normally believe. Many home based business owners started out with just a computer and a prayer, but the opportunity to start a profitable home business is not just beneficial for the business owners, but for the businesses and institutions with the resources to train them as well. For that reason, many legitimate business opportunities have thrived over the years by offering aspiring business owners the skills, support, and know-how to work independently with the luxury of a safety net to assist them in their efforts. Whether that means help in getting started, actual training, or collaboration in large projects, there is a wealth of opportunity when it comes to embarking on the "work at home business" journey.

So let's say you do start a new career. You might wonder, "Where do I begin?" To answer that, we might try returning to where we began. Waste. Eliminating waste might be your best work at home business "bet". For instance, in restaurants a large portion of food (about 15 percent) is wasted before it even leaves the kitchen. After that, the average guest leaves 17 percent of their food. That means that a sizable chunk of food and money is being tossed into the dumpster and thrown away. For an example of this that hits more close to home, the average American family in 2012 ended up throwing away up to $2,275 worth of food. Think of that in the context of virtually any institution that serves food and the opportunities to save money on waste are everywhere.

Businesses across the country and around the world are fighting to stay profitable and efficient in a challenging economy. But they may not even realize that one of the biggest sources of waste has been sitting right under their noses, or more specifically, in their dumpster.

Mark Patrick has spent the last 15 years working independently with business opportunities that have a positive impact in the real world. Most recently, Mark has researched and written extensively on the work at home business opportunities that recycling and business waste provide for sites and how to start your own business.