Food waste is a widespread economic, social, and environmental challenge: nearly one-third of food is never eaten, costing a family of four almost $3,000 annually, even though about 70% of discarded food is edible and 1 in 5 U.S. families with children experiences food insecurity. Producing and landfilling uneaten food wastes natural resources and generates greenhouse gas emissions, making food-waste reduction an important climate strategy.
The good news is that these challenges also present an opportunity. While
preventing food waste is always the best solution, recovering more surplus food and keeping it out of landfills, can also help reduce waste while also conserving resources, supporting families, and building stronger, more resilient communities.
Effective food recovery, however, goes beyond traditional pantries and church-based programs. To be successful, it requires innovative, large-scale approaches towards reducing waste, strengthening food systems, and expanding access to healthy food.
On our September 30th webinar, we were joined by leaders from the
National Food Recovery Association and
FarmLink — two organizations that are developing innovative approaches to food recovery that meeting these challenges.
Listen to full webinar here (be sure to check out the webinar highlights) as they shared their strategies for building and scaling food recovery programs, and how these programs are creating systems that are making a real difference. You'll also get a breakdown of where Maryland stands in this conversation including what's working and where there's great potential for expanding prevention, recovery and recycling throughout the State.