Wasted chances: Food scraps not recycled in restaurants

Many of the capital's restaurants are still improperly disposing of their food waste despite regulations from the State Council that encourage proper treatment and recycling, according to research conducted by a Beijing-based non-governmental organization.

Paying no heed to the government guidelines, most restaurants mix food waste with other garbage, sell it to private individuals as pig feed or even use it for illegal purposes, such as distilling cooking oil from the waste, according to a research report released on Friday by the Green Beagle, a non-governmental environmental protection organization based in Beijing.

The research began in February and has since surveyed 60 restaurants in the city's Chaoyang district.