Future of the Business World Podcast · Wharton Global Youth Program

Thanksgiving Leftovers? One Student's Solution to Food Waste

December 1, 2024·25 min·1 clip

Diana Drake opens with a welcome from the Wharton Global Youth Program. The episode introduces Kelly Zhang as the show’s 50th guest. Kelly is a high school junior from Pasadena, California. She says she loves animals and spends a lot of time horseback riding. That personal detail leads into her interest in climate issues. Kelly recalls a Wharton Global Youth comment-and-win competition response tied to climate change. Diana asks her to explain what food waste looks like in practice. Kelly gives a straightforward answer about how scraps can be reused instead of thrown away. She describes compost as a strong organic fertilizer. She contrasts it with some store-bought fertilizers that contain chemicals. She also gives an example of biofuel made from organic waste. In that example, a school system uses waste breakdown to produce enough energy for its kitchen. The point is simple. Waste can become input again. Diana then pushes on the bigger problem. Kelly says the food crisis is not about the world running out of food. It is about distribution. Some places have extra food while others have very little. She connects that imbalance to the broader idea of food equity. That shifts the conversation from individual habits to the way systems are built. Kelly brings in The Story of More as a reference point. She says the book helped her see that enough food already exists. The harder part is how people share it and how much ends up in landfills. She connects landfill waste to methane and greenhouse gas emissions. She also notes that the burden falls hardest on people who already have less access to food. The interview stays measured and easy to follow. Diana asks follow-up questions that let Kelly explain the mechanics in her own words. Kelly keeps her answers practical rather than polished. She comes back again and again to reuse, equity, and climate impact. The conversation also opens up into Kelly’s other interests. She talks about helping start a sustainable fashion company. Later, the show moves into a quick set of personal questions. Kelly says she would like to learn another language, probably French. She also shares a small win: convincing her dad to start using a reusable Walla water bottle. The episode ends by asking who she would invite as the first guest on her own business talk show. She names Rita Doss, a mentor connected to sustainable fashion work and women-led companies. That answer fits the rest of the episode neatly. Kelly is drawn to practical people who build around sustainability and support others doing the same.

As heard by us

A high school student frames food waste as a practical problem of reuse, distribution, and climate.

This episode follows a high school student thinking plainly and usefully about food waste. Kelly Zhang explains why discarded food matters, how organic leftovers can become compost or biofuel, and why getting it to the right place matters as much as cutting waste in the first…

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Hear a Pasadena high school junior explain how food waste can be turned into compost and biofuel.

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