Claire Cummings
Waste Specialist
Our trash-talking, waste-fighting, garbage guru Claire Cummings began her Bon Appétit journey in 2007 as a student dining at Lewis & Clark College. Five years later she joined the company as our West Coast Fellow, holding educational events for students about social and environmental food issues. Her passion for fighting food waste blossomed during the fellowship, when she was working with our cafés to launch food recovery programs and found opportunities to expand our waste sustainability efforts well beyond donation.
This passion for preventing and reducing waste led to the creation of her current position as waste programs manager. Her work has kept Bon Appétit on the forefront of the zero waste movement and since joining the company, she has helped double our food recovery programs; launch the Imperfectly Delicious Produce program, which rescues cosmetically challenged, over-/undersized, and underutilized produce from going to waste on farms; and developed our very own kitchen waste tracking program.
Her work has helped Bon Appétit create companywide commitments to holistic and comprehensive waste prevention and management through our Low Carbon Lifestyle initiative. And Claire’s personal journey to zero waste, chronicled as @WasteAce, has inspired many employees and guests throughout the country to take small steps to reduce their own personal waste footprint!