Clean Plate Innovations, a Pittsburgh-based startup, wants to become the world’s leading technology company when it comes to food-waste management and sustainability in large-scale dining operations like commercial cafeterias, and Seneca Valley is a school district that wants to reduce wasted food.

A partnership with the company at Seneca Valley will be an artificial intelligence-based pilot program intends to reduce overall food waste while improving overall quality and appeal of student meals.

According to Clean Plate Innovations, commercial cafeterias, like school districts and universities, waste 5 million tons of food per year and plate-waste accounts for 66% of waste in those dining facilities. Plate waste is edible food left uneaten and thrown away.

The company uses an AI-enabled food waste tracking platform called CPIsight Alpha, which is a smart-camera system that uses computer vision to identify and calculate plate waste at the point of disposal in real-time.

Seneca Valley said the technology will not identify individual students, but will provide data on what they’re eating and what they’re throwing away. The idea is the information will lead to changes in portion sizes and food preparation.

Nolen Fetchko, director of food services at Seneca Valley, said the information will be used to make informed decisions about the use of resources.

The United Nations Environment Programme, the U.N.’s leading global authority on the environment, explains how the benefits of food-waste reduction can minimize some of the negative impacts AI use has on the environment. UNEP also calls for the AI community to “integrate renewable energy sources into their operations.”

A resolution adopted in December 2025 by the United Nations Environment Assembly encouraged member states to “minimize the potential ecological harm of AI, even as they harness its environmental benefits.”

As UNEP’s website states, “given AI’s abilities to detect patterns in data — and use them to predict future outcomes — the technology has tremendous potential to enhance efficiencies within food systems. Directed toward the problem of food waste, AI can be used to help governments, businesses and individuals ensure that more of the food we produce is eaten, not thrown away.”

As the use of AI technology continues to expand into various aspects of everyday life, it will be interesting to see how it adapts to become a more environmentally friendly process as it continues to be used to reduce wasted resources in myriad industries.

— KL