Report Lays Out National Plan to Reduce Food Waste By 20%

An EarthShare article (2016-04-18) announced that a new report by Rethink Food Waste Through Economics and Data (ReFED) proposes a national plan to reduce food waste by 20 percent. From the article:

A new report released from [ReFED] – a collaboration of over 30 business, government, investor, foundation, and nonprofit leaders committed to reducing US food waste – analyzes 27 food waste solutions that can cut food waste in the United States by 20% — or 13 million tons annually. …

The Roadmap will require $18 billion of investment over the next decade, but will yield a net economic value of approximately $100 billion through lower food bills, new businesses, additional meals donated to the hungry, and a lower government tax burden.

The ReFED plan would also catalyze more than 15,000 new jobs, annually recover over 1.8 billion meals for the hungry, reduce national water use by over one trillion gallons, and cut greenhouse gas emissions by nearly 18 million tons. …

To ensure the Roadmap accurately represented the current landscape and included actionable insights, ReFED built an Advisory Board of leading organizations across sectors including Ahold, Bon Appetit Management Company, Sodexo, Walmart, Waste Management, Feeding America, Grocery Manufacturers Association, Harvard University, World Resources Institute (WRI), California State Board of Food and Agriculture, the EPA, and the cities of New York, Phoenix, and Seattle. …

The benefits of fighting food waste are achievable, feasible, and realistic today, but they will not be realized without a concerted effort. Stakeholders must commit to four levers of action:

New financing to scale proven solutions

Commonsense policy change

Adoption of emerging innovations, and

Consumer and employee education