On June 4th, RecyclingWorks in Massachusetts partnered with the Environmental Protection Agency, Massachusetts Department of Environmental Protection, and Whole Foods to host the Spring 2015 “Diversion and Reduction through Food Donation” WasteWise Forum. The event took place at Whole Foods Market Regional Office in Cambridge. It was a successful event that brought together 58 participants…
In a recent article, WBUR reports that a new non-profit grocery store has opened in Dorchester, aiming to reduce food waste by selling aging and surplus food at a steep discount. The Daily Table collects food donations from supermarkets and sells them for extremely low prices, such as “canned vegetables two for $1, a dozen…
This Boston Globe article highlights efforts made by Harvard University, among many other businesses and institutions, to donate food rather than throw it away. Harvard’s undergraduate dining halls generate 2,500 pounds of leftovers, which are now being given to needy families in Boston through Food for Free, a non-profit organization in Cambridge. The article mentions…
A recent article in Business NH Magazine reports that twelve New England organizations are supporting a U.S. Environmental Protection Agency initiative to reduce the nearly 35 million tons of food waste generated nationally each year. This initiative, called the EPA Food Recovery Challenge, focuses on encouraging businesses, organizations and institutions to prevent food waste by…
This blog post written by Andrew Shakman, CEO of LeanPath (a food waste prevention technology provider), highlights how to use social psychology tools to engage employees in food waste prevention activities. Although the examples apply to food waste prevention, Shakman explains the principles can be utilized to promote other behaviors, like food safety. The five strategies Shakman…
The National Restaurant Association’s (NRA) Conserve program is a resource to explore and learn about sustainability in the restaurant business. To promote the program, the NRA developed 4 tips from industry experts on easy practices to implement that enhance a restaurant’s sustainability and produce environmental benefits: Recycle your cardboard Conserve water by establishing a…
In April, Keep America Beautiful published findings of a 2014 research study in a report titled “Recycling at Work: Research to Inform Improved Recycling in the Workplace”. Keep America Beautiful commissioned Action Research to conduct the study, which was sponsored by PepsiCo Recycling. The study assessed the effects of different desk-side bin types and placements in over…
The Food Recovery Network (FRN) brings together students at colleges and universities across the nation to combat food waste and hunger by recovering edible food from their campuses that would have otherwise gone to waste and redistributing it to people in need. FRN partnered with Bon Appetit Management Company to launch a gleaning initiative to…
On Earth Day, U.S. EPA New England (Region 1) announced its 2015 Environmental Merit Awards. Lincoln-Sudbury Regional High School’s Environmental Club received a 2014 President’s Environmental Youth Award. The Environmental Club carried out an initiative to encourage reusable water bottles and spread awareness of climate change to fellow students, which involved fundraising to purchase two purified…
In November 2014, the Food Waste Reduction Alliance, a working group of major food service retailers and trade associations, released the report Analysis of U.S. Food Waste Among Food Manufacturers, Retailers, and Restaurants. From statistics in the report, Jordan Figueiredo of EndFoodWaste.org and Nicole Civita of the Food Recovery Project at the University of Arkansas created…
