A recent article in E&E Publishing describes how new laws, like Massachusetts’ Commercial Food Waste Ban, are helping to increase the portion of surplus food that is donated to charity. While a large portion of food diverted from the waste stream is composted, many organizations are helping connect food producers to food banks. In the…
A report by the Green Sports Alliance (GSA) and Natural Resource Defense Council (NRDC) features 20 professional sports venues across North America that are implementing more sustainable food service and disposal practices. Many of these venues have programs to donate or compost excess food. The report includes tips for starting composting programs at sports venues.…
A Boston Magazine article recently highlighted the work of Food For Free, a Cambridge-based non-profit, collects unused food from farmers’ markets, grocery stores, bakeries, and universities and donates it to food pantries, schools, and individuals in need of healthy food. Sasha Purpura, executive director of Food For Free, says “Our mission is to address hunger…
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…
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…
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…
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…
The U.S. EPA Region 1 (New England) office recently announced the Regional 2014 Food Recovery Challenge Achievement Award winners based on 2013 data. The awards go to those who significantly reduce the volume of surplus food generated, donate food to people or animals, and/or compost excess food. The Massachusetts winners include: Tufts University Medford Campus,…
This article from Wicked Local Burlington describes how food donations to the Burlington Food Pantry have increased since the Commercial Food Waste Disposal Ban went into effect in October 2014. The increase in food donations from large food service providers like a Wegmans grocery store has led the Burlington Food Pantry to expand hours and…
