Make use of the article to answer the questions.

Food waste has been a chronic problem for restaurants and grocery stores -- with millions of tons lost along the way as crops are hauled hundreds of miles, stored for weeks in refrigerators and prepared on busy restaurant assembly lines. But the historically high price of products is making it an even bigger drag on the bottom line.

Restaurants, colleges, hospitals and other institutions are compensating for the rising costs of waste in novel ways. Some are tracking their trash with software systems, making food in smaller packages or trying to compost (......) and cut down on trash-hauling costs.

"We have all come to work with this big elephant in the middle of kitchen, and the elephant is this 'It's okay to waste' belief system," said Andrew Shackman, president of LeanPath, a company that helps restaurants cut back food waste.

The interest in cutting food waste "has just rocketed in the last six to nine months," he said.

Roughly 30 percent of food in the United States goes to waste, costing some $48 billion annually, according to a Stockholm International Water Institute study. A University of Arizona study estimated that 40 to 50 percent of food in the United States is wasted. Wholesale food costs have risen more than 8 percent this year, the biggest jump in decades, according to the National Restaurant Association.

Freshman students at Virginia Tech were surprised this year when the two of the campus' biggest dining halls to find there were no trays.

"You have to go back and get your dishware and your drink, but it's not that different," said Caitlin Mewborn, a freshman. "It's not a big trouble. You take less food, and you don't eat more than you should."

Getting rid of trays has cut food waste by 38 percent at the dining halls, said Denny Cochrane, manager of Virginia Tech's sustainability program. Before the program began, students often grabbed whatever looked good at the buffet , only to find at the table that their eyes were bigger than their stomachs, he said.

1. What is the big elephant in the middle of the kitchen?
2. Who said that?
3. What is his job?
4. What does that company do?
5. What was taken away from the dining halls and Virginia tech?
6. Why?
7. Was that an effective measure?
8. How much waste was cut by it?
9. Who said that?
10. What is his job?
11. How much food in the US is wasted?
12. Who says that?
13. What's another estimate?
14. By whom?
15. What is the cost of this by one estimate?
1. It's okay to waste
2. Andrew Shackman
3. president of LeanPath
4. helps restaurants cut back food waste.
5. Trays
6. Cut food waste
7. Yes
8. 38 percent
9. Denny Cochrane
10. manager of Virginia Tech's sustainability program
11. Roughly 30 percent
12. a Stockholm International Water Institute study
13. 40 to 50 percent
14. University of Arizona
15. $48 billion annually