Hey, I've been mulling over how cities could slash food waste—care to dive into the numbers and engineer a real‑world solution?

Here’s the snapshot I’ve gathered so far: globally we throw away about 1.3 billion tons of food each year, and the U.S. alone dumps roughly 95 million tons. On a city level, New York’s waste is about 400,000 tons a year, and Los Angeles is around 300,000 tons. In both places roughly a third of that is from households, another third from food service, and the rest from retail and supply chain missteps. If we break it down: – Household waste tops out at 35–40 % of the total. – Restaurants and grocery stores are responsible for another 30–35 %. – The remaining 25–30 % usually comes from logistics, packaging, and unsold inventory. To start slicing it, let’s get the raw data on where the biggest waste points are: grocery store checkout lines, kitchen prep areas, delivery routes, and end‑of‑life packaging. Once we have that, we can map the inefficiencies, test interventions like compost pickups, better inventory software, or consumer education nudges. Sound good? What specific city data do you have ready to go?

Let’s start with NYC—those borough surveys and 311 complaints give us a fine‑grained view of where waste is leaking out of homes and restaurants. Once we’ve mapped the hotspots and tried a couple of quick fixes, we can move to LA and see how redemption rates compare and whether a similar strategy would work on a different scale. What’s the first dataset you can pull for the boroughs?

Got the two datasets—great, that’s our map. First, let’s crunch the borough totals to see which neighborhoods top‑score in household waste, then plot the 311 complaint density on the same map to spot where restaurants are getting the most flags. We’ll use a heat‑map overlay so the hotspots are crystal clear. Once we’ve flagged the high‑waste boroughs, we can brainstorm quick fixes: maybe a neighborhood compost drop‑off or a restaurant audit pilot. Ready to dive into the numbers?

Awesome—just drop the figures here and we’ll paint the heat‑maps together. Once we see the leaky spots, we’ll pick the most doable fixes and kick off a pilot. Let’s do this!