Food waste from Cecconi's in Flinders Lane is being converted to compost on-site and used at owner Maria Bortolotto's farm to grow fruit vegetables for the restaurant. 

Australian restaurants generate a huge amount of food waste, a large proportion of which currently goes to landfill. But a local company is hoping to convert that waste into compost for city vegie patches.

Closed Loop sells machines that turn food waste into useable compost within 24 hours. Managing director Rob Pascoe is on a mission to lease out as many as 20 of the units to Melbourne restaurants within the next month. He says the machines not only turn organic waste into a useful resource, but can save restaurants money by drastically reducing the amount they spend on waste collection.

Pascoe's plan is to help restaurants cut their food waste to zero and in the process help fund a social enterprise aimed at getting disadvantaged young people into work building vegetable gardens in and around the CBD.

Read more: http://www.theage.com.au/good-food/food-news/wanted-wasteful-restaurants-20130730-2qwv9.html#ixzz2bDAGlaxF