Disney parks serve millions of guests every year, and all that food service comes with an inevitable byproduct: massive amounts of leftovers. Rather than letting that surplus go straight to a landfill, Disney has built out a multi-pronged system to put as much of it to good use as possible.
A significant portion of unused prepared food is donated to local food pantries, helping to address hunger in the communities surrounding the parks. It's a practical partnership that benefits neighbors who might otherwise have little connection to the magic happening inside the gates.
What can't be donated doesn't simply disappear. Disney also diverts food waste through composting programs and by converting scraps into animal feed, keeping hundreds of thousands of pounds of material out of the waste stream each year.
Taken together, the effort reflects a broader push by large hospitality operations to think more carefully about the environmental and social footprint of feeding enormous crowds day after day.
This reporting comes from Mashed.
