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The Challenge

November 29, 2016

Implementing the Food Recovery Hierarchy presents an opportunity to decrease solid waste generation, mitigate environmental impacts and resource use, improve food security in our communities, create jobs, conserve water, and reduce greenhouse gas emissions and water pollution.

Wasted food is the largest share of the municipal waste stream, with some 77 billion pounds discarded each year. The United States spends $218 billion a year growing, processing, transporting, and disposing of food that is never eaten. This amounts to an estimated $1,500 each year for the average American family. Beyond the lost value of food, wasting it also uses 21% of all fresh water and 21% of landfill volume. As much as 85% of this waste comes from “downstream” sources at “consumer-facing” businesses, such as restaurants, and from homes.

Reducing wasted food presents many challenges and opportunities. For materials management, food waste is an issue that brings with it several environmental impacts, as noted above. It’s also a social issue. In a country of great wealth, 13 percent of households (15.8 million households) were food insecure in 2015. More than other materials, a focus on reducing wasted food is a community issue. Partnering with local food recovery agencies fosters awareness of both the importance of reducing wasted food and recovering usable food for donation. And, composting allows for diverting wasted food to the local manufacturing of a valuable soil amendment—keeping a resource from the landfill and creating local jobs.

FRC 

Recognizing Action

Last week NERC had the honor of being recognized by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), along with 13 other organizations and businesses, for participation in EPA’s Food Recovery Challenge

According the EPA, in 2015, 800 Food Recovery Challenge participants prevented and diverted nearly 691,000 tons of wasted food from landfills or incinerators. Participants: 

  • Prevented over 1,000 tons of wasted food from being created through source reduction activities
  • Donated approximately 302,000 tons of food
  • Anaerobically digested nearly 75,000 tons of food
  • Composted more than 313,000 tons of food
  • Reduced carbon emissions by almost 407,000 metric tons of carbon dioxide equivalent (MTCO2E—the equivalent to taking approximately 86,000 cars off the road for a year)
  • Saved businesses up to $35 million in avoided waste disposal fees 

Stated Mathy Stanislaus, Assistant Administrator for EPA’s Office of Land and Emergency Management, “These Food Recovery Challenge award winners are reducing food loss and waste within their communities to make America a healthier, more sustainable nation. They are leading by example and have reduced their climate footprint, helped communities and achieved cost savings by taking actions based on EPA’s Food Recovery Hierarchy and sustainable materials management best practices.”

EPA recognizes Food Recovery Challenge participants and endorsers with awards in two categories:  data-driven and narrative. The data-driven award recipients achieved the highest percent increases in their sector comparing year to year data. Narrative award winners excelled in the areas of source reduction, leadership, innovation, education and outreach and endorsement.

The 2016 Food Recovery Challenge national award winners:

Data-driven Improvement by Sector Winners:  
Colleges and Universities: Ursinus College (Collegeville, Pennsylvania)
K-12 Schools: Lanikai School (Kailua, Hawaii)
Grocers: Sprouts Farmers Market – 205 (Claremont, California)
Restaurants and Food Service Providers: Goodkind (Milwaukee, Wisconsin)
Sports and Entertainment Venues: Chumash Casino Resort (Santa Ynez, California)
Hotels, Resorts, and Lodging: Ortega National Parks, LLC - Carlsbad Caverns Trading Company (Carlsbad, New Mexico)  
Newcomer: Sprouts Farmers Market – 286 (La Habra, California)
Other Sector: Town of New Paltz (New Paltz, New York)

Narrative Category Winners:
Source Reduction: University of California, Davis (Davis, California)
Leadership: Sodexo (Gaithersburg, Maryland)
Innovation: Food Forward (Los Angeles, California)
Education and Outreach: Ramona High School (Ramona, California)
Endorsers: Northeast Recycling Council (Brattleboro, Vermont)

For the New England Region, EPA also issued "Food Recovery Challenge Regional Achievement Certificates" to 26 organizations in Connecticut, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, and Maine, and a Regional Endorser Award to Vermont Agency of Natural Resources.

To help reduce food waste, Food Recovery Challenge participants use practices such as: 

  • Recovering food from farmers’ markets
  • Creating food waste volunteer programs in high schools
  • Giving college students the option to choose what goes on their plates
  • Using tools to improve portion control and meal forecasting
  • Adding infrastructure to more efficiently distribute perishable produce 

Concerned about food waste? Find out what you can do and be recognized for your efforts by joining the Food Recovery Challenge.

 

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