While 38% of food produced in the United States becomes surplus, only 2.1% ends up being donated. According to the EPA Wasted Food scale, there are a number of waste destinations that prevent surplus food from ending up in a landfill, and food donation is the highest priority pathway. ReFED breaks down food waste reduction into seven key action areas across the food system, with Strengthening Food Rescue as an important focus. Below are five solutions that work in tandem to increase donation rates, helping to ensure that food is nourishing people first and reducing the chance of it becoming waste.
Donation Education
Annual Food Waste Diversion (Tons): 1.18M | Annual CO2e Reduction (Metric Tons): 1.07M | Annual Net Financial Benefit: $5.27B
Multiple sectors are in a position to increase their rates of food donation, but a lack of knowledge about the best practices and protocols might be their biggest challenge. Confusion over donation liability laws and safe handling of food donations are two subjects in particular that prevent manufacturers, foodservice providers, and retailers from donating surplus food. Additional confusion about managing donations can come from differences between federal, state, and local laws and regulations. Donation education—on food safety precautions, liability protections, legislation, and more—dispels confusion and increases food donation rates without much overhead cost, making this solution the one with the highest net financial benefit.
Donation Transportation
Annual Food Waste Diversion (Tons): 673k | Annual CO2e Reduction (Metric Tons): 928k | Annual Net Financial Benefit: $2.85B
This is one of several solutions focused on strengthening donation infrastructure. Donation transport currently presents several challenges that prevent donations from traveling far distances and, in some cases, prevent food from being donated in the first place. Many businesses lack sufficient facilities or resources to independently transport products, and with an increased desire to provide nutritious food, proper storage and transportation is crucial to getting good food to food recovery centers. Increasing small-scale transportation infrastructure and long-haul transport capabilities can divert over 500k tons of food from landfills and to donation centers, where food feeds people.
Donation Storage Handling & Capacity
Annual Food Waste Diversion (Tons): 280k | Annual CO2e Reduction (Tons): 313k | Annual Net Financial Benefit: $1.04B
Building storage infrastructure alongside transport infrastructure would help maximize businesses’ ability to donate food. Properly handling, processing, and storing food is essential for making sure it reaches the people that food recovery organizations are aiming to serve. Expanding temperature-controlled food distribution infrastructure—like refrigeration technology and larger warehouse facilities—can help extend food’s shelf life, while hiring additional labor to process and package more food donation volume can help increase donation rates.
Donation Value-Added Processing
Annual Food Waste Diversion (Tons): 216k | Annual CO2e Reduction (Tons): 27.3k | Annual Net Financial Benefit: $1.03
Expanding storage capabilities is one way to address shelf life concerns for perishable products, but that solution is only one piece of the puzzle. Donation value-added processing—which converts donated food into other products that have longer shelf lives—prevents spoilage, increasing the amount of food that’s available to feed consumers who need it most. Building processing infrastructure equipment to freeze or transform certain fresh products into less perishable ones—like soups, sauces, jams, or prepared meals—has a high net financial impact while also keeping food safe for human consumption.
Donation Coordination & Matching
Annual Food Waste Diversion (Tons): 143k | Annual CO2e Reduction (Tons): 411k | Annual Net Financial Benefit: $649M
The final modeled solution in this action area is donation coordination & matching. The food system is complex, which presents gaps in efforts to recover the maximum amount of excess food. An array of technology platforms connect food donors with recovery organizations, simplifying the communication and coordination that’s required to match excess food with need and available space. Single platforms can streamline communication between donors and receivers, log incoming donations, map pickups, and more. Coordination and matching software strengthens partnerships by matching donors and food recovery organizations based on things like frequency, type, and quantity of donatable items. These platforms can also help arrange and cover transportation costs, removing a critical financial burden. Apps that focus on coordination and matching can fill the gaps caused by the large food system—putting food back into people’s hands and reducing CO2e emissions by over 400k annually.
These five solutions are not all that can be done to strengthen food rescue. ReFED’s Solutions Database includes two more solutions in this action area—Blast Chilling to Enable Donations and Donation Reverse Logistics—that have yet to be modeled, and increased attention around the relationship between food waste reduction and food recovery could reveal further solutions in the coming years. Nonetheless, donation is the priority destination for surplus food, and these five solutions can increase donation rates, reduce CO2e, and divert food from landfills.
Want to explore more solutions and food waste data? Visit the ReFED Insights Engine.