Reduce food waste and bring a high class touch to any restaurant with this new receipt technology.

The Issue:

Dining venues often provide a “customer copy” of a receipt (Figure 1). However, in most cases these receipts are printed, taken to the diner’s table, and then immediately thrown away. Is there a solution to this wasteful misuse of paper?

Fig. 1: A regular printed paper receipt generally has two purposes: 1) to inform the customer of all the bogus service fees being added to the bill, and 2) to be thrown away!

Proposal:

The solution is simple: print the receipt on something edible, like a piece of dried seaweed, a matzah, or an ultra-thin slice of cheese (Figure 2).

Fig. 2: Here, we see the “cheese-ified” version of the receipt from Figure 1.

Now, if the customer decides they don’t really need their “customer copy” of the receipt, they can just eat it. Less waste, more food: everyone wins!

Conclusion:

This might also allow restaurants to skimp on the little mint or piece of candy that they sometimes provide. After all, there’s no need to provide an additional sugary treat with the bill if you’ve already printed the receipt on a Fruit Roll-Up™!

PROS: Reduces paper waste and improves customer satisfaction.

CONS: None. This “edible receipt” idea is eminently practical for both the humblest burger joint and the snootiest fancy restaurant.

Thanks to R.W.W. for this excellent idea!

Originally published 2026-06-29.