The USDA recently announced it is investing approximately $11.5 million in 38 cooperative agreements that support innovative and scalable waste management solutions, including composting and urban farming, to minimize food waste in landfills. Nearly 40 percent of all food produced in the United States goes to waste. That’s approximately 219 pounds of waste per person. However, the same food that is decomposing and producing methane gas – a leading cause of climate change – could be supplying the emergency food system.
Food waste and food insecurity are both challenges in our society, whereas they could in fact, together, form a solution. Each day, Americans throw away tons of nutritious food that could feed hundreds of thousands of hungry people.
In Massachusetts it is estimated that Bay Staters discard one million pounds of food per year and yet 1 in 3 households is facing food insecurity. Food For Free – one of the first food rescue organizations in the nation – is dedicated to evening out this disparity by picking up food that would otherwise go to a landfill and redistributing it to those in need.
One example of this work is our Heat-n-Eats program, which turns excess prepared food into balanced microwavable meals. Through the program, we rescue prepared food from corporate, university, and hospital dining services and turn it into nutritious, balanced, single-serving meals in our Heat-n-Eats food preparation kitchen space donated by Biogen. Meals are then distributed to our community members who face food insecurity through schools, colleges, homeless shelters, and youth-based support centers. The program packs and distributes more than 1,700 meals per week. Every meal includes a serving of vegetables, protein, and grain or starch.
Reducing food losses by just 15 percent would be enough food to feed more than 25 million Americans every year according to the Natural Resources Defense Council. If every university, hospital, and business with an in-house dining hall in Eastern Massachusetts partnered with Food For Free, we would have the ability to make tens of thousands more meals for people in need. There is no limit to the demand for these nutritious single-serving meals, the challenge is securing commitments from additional food donors.
With the Heat-n-Eats program, we’re not just providing meals; we’re weaving a stronger community fabric, emphasizing the profound impact of every single meal. We are grateful to partners, Biogen, Massachusetts General Hospital, Google, Lesley University, and Harvard University, whose generous contributions are testaments to our collective commitment working toward a hunger-free society.
While we are thrilled to see the USDA taking further action to address the massive food waste crisis that we face as a nation, we can’t ignore the different ways in which this excess food could be used outside of minimizing the harmful effects of climate change to solve a dueling crisis: hunger in America.
We have enough food to go around, but a collaborative effort between federal and local governments, community leaders, food establishments, and nonprofits will be required to turn the problem of food waste into the solution to food insecurity in our region.
Interested in exploring a Heat-n-Eats food donor partnership for your organization? For more information, visit www.foodforfree.org or contact molly@foodforfree.org.
