epa’s food recovery challenge
TRANSCRIPT
A NATIONAL VOLUNTARY PROGRAM TO PROMOTE DIVERSION OF FOOD SCRAP AND
SURPLUS FOOD FROM LANDFILLS
EPA’s Food Recovery Challenge A Sustainable Materials Management and Pollution Prevention Initiative
Lorraine Graves EPA Region 2
The Food Waste Problem
Americans waste
enough food to fill the
Rose Bowl every day.
(Bloom 2007)
33.44 27.71 25.93
13.69 13.61 13.33 10.83 8.78 7.23 6.42
010203040
Food Waste Plastics Paper &Paperboard
Metals Wood Yard Waste Textiles Glass Other Rubber &Leather
How Much Food Waste?
About 34 million tons of food waste was generated in 2010
Less than 3% of food waste was diverted from landfills
Food Waste Impacts the Triple Bottom Line
EPA’s Food Recovery Challenge: A Tool to Reduce Food Waste
Waste Tracking System
Technical Tools /
Assistance
Recognition & Awards
Cost Savings and Brand Recognition Support Your Community
Reduce Environmental Impact
We Need Lots of Partners!
• The solution is at a national scale, we need a big team
• Why Grocery Stores, Universities, and Venues?
• Take the Food Recovery Challenge and together – let’s take a bite out of food waste!
Here’s How to Participate
• Sign Up in WasteWise/check the FRC box
• Assess It!
• Commit to It! Set Goals
• Do It!
• Report It!
Getting Started
Do a Dumpster Dive
Focus on Source Reduction & Donation o Easiest to do; biggest return for your $ o feedingamerica.org
Find a Composter o findacomposter.com o Find acceptable “compostable” serviceware or run a test batch
before buying
Additional Resources o epa.gov/osw/conserve/materials/organics/food/fd-res.htm
Another way to participate
Participant
VS
Endorser
Food Recovery Challenge Participant Benefits
Data Management System o Tracks food waste practices
oWeb-based and secure
o Converts to GHG and other metrics
EPA Awards and Recognition
Technical assistance from EPA
Regular webinars on food waste related issues
Website with case studies, tools, templates, and other outreach materials
EPA’s Food Hierarchy
Source Reduction = Cost Savings
Food to Feed People
Food to Feed Animals
Food to Feed the Soil
Current Regional Participants
• Bard College • Bethel Woods Center for the
Performing Arts • Canon USA, Inc • Community FoodBank • Cornell Waste management • Givaudan • Grand Hyatt • Hospitality Green LLC • Intercontinental New York Barclay • Kean University • Marist College • National Hockey League • Organic Diversion, LLC
• Raritan Valley Community College • Rock and Wrap it Up! • Rutgers University • St. John’s University • Supermarkets of Cherry Hill,
ShopRite • The DOE Princeton Plasma
Physics Lab • Town and Village of New Paltz • Wakefern Food Corp • Wegmans Food Markets • Whole Foods Market, Northeast
Region
Thank You!!
For more info … www.epa.gov/foodrecoverychallenge • Lorraine Graves(212) 637-4099
• Rachel Chaput (212) 637–4116
• Shane Nelson (212) 637–3130
• Dale Carpenter (212) 637-4110