NGOs launch food waste coalition

The Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC), New York, World Wildlife Fund (WWF), Switzerland, Harvard Law School Food Law and Policy Clinic (FLPC), Cambridge, Massachusetts, and ReFed, New York, have partnered to launch the Zero Food Waste Coalition.

Focused on informing officials and influencing policy at the local, state and federal levels, the Zero Food Waste Coalition seeks to engage with partners and stakeholders around the country. The coalition will bring consumers, businesses and governments together to advocate for food waste policy solutions in the United States, the organization says.

“Changing behavior from food waste to food recovery is achievable,” Food Recovery Network Executive Director Regina Anderson says. “We can reduce would-be food waste by half by 2030 if we all work together. The Zero Food Waste Coalition provides the resources we all need at any level to begin doing the right thing with our surplus food, and Food Recovery Network is proud to provide step-by-step support.”

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According to the organization, the U.S. produces and imports an abundance of food each year, but approximately 38 percent of it goes unsold or uneaten. The Zero Food Waste Coalition says it works to deliver on the economic, environmental, social and public health benefits of reducing food waste, such as reducing greenhouse gas emissions, conserving natural resources and increasing access to quality food.

“[Food] waste is not only counterproductive to our fight against hunger, but it is also harming the environment and costing our economy hundreds of billions of dollars each year,” U.S. Rep. Chellie Pingree, a Maine Democrat, says. “The scale of the food waste crisis demands action on all fronts. So, as my colleagues in Congress and I work to enact federal legislation, it’s important to have organizations on the ground engaging with and educating communities across the country to reduce waste. With the launch of the Zero Food Waste Coalition, I am confident that together, we can achieve our collective goals: reduce food waste, end hunger and protect our planet.”

One of the coalition’s priorities is to mitigate food waste via the 2023 Farm Bill, a multiyear package of legislation that affects agriculture and food issues across the U.S. The Zero Food Waste Coalition released its top priorities for the Farm Bill, which include expanding federal research and funding, increasing grants and loans for infrastructure that eliminates food waste and standardizing food date labels.

The founding organizations of the coalition began working together in 2020 to inform policymakers about opportunities to reduce food waste. Together, they launched the U.S. Food Loss and Waste Action Plan, which the organization says was endorsed by more than 60 companies, nongovernment organizations and local and state governments. This plan highlights actions the federal government can take to reduce food waste. Subsequently, coalition founders hosted a listening session in June 2022 to gather stakeholder input on priorities related to food waste, food donation and food recovery for the 2022 White House Conference and Strategy on Hunger, Nutrition and Health.

The coalition says it is committed to broadening engagement on its efforts and working with policymakers, national and local advocates, food producers, retailers and consumers to develop and implement strategies to reduce food waste at all stages of the food supply chain.