Food Recovery Challenge Results and Award Winners

By EPA

Recognition is a key element of the EPA’s Sustainable Materials Management (SMM) Program and the Food Recovery Challenge (FRC). Food Recovery Challenge awards are offered in two categories – data driven and narrative. Participants do not need to apply for the data driven awards, as these awards are given based on the information submitted via the SMM Data Management System and are based on percent changes comparing an organization’s data to the previous year’s data. Participants and endorsers can apply for narrative awards in the following areas: Source Reduction, Leadership, Innovation, Education and Outreach, and Endorsers.

Food Recovery Challenge Results

In 2017, more than 1,000 Food Recovery Challenge participants and endorsers prevented and diverted over 648,000 tons of wasted food from entering landfills or incinerators. Of this amount, participants and endorsers:

• prevented over 18,000 tons of wasted food from being created through source reduction (prevention) activities,
• donated approximately 214,000 tons of food,
• anaerobically digested nearly 170,000 tons of food and
• composted more than 234,000 tons of food.

EPA is pleased to recognize the following organizations for their outstanding efforts in 2017 to advance sustainable materials management and for their leadership in sustainable management of food. Their accomplishments, along with all of the other FRC participants and endorsers will go a long way towards meeting the United States’ first ever national wasted food reduction goal – a 50 percent reduction by 2030.Read the full article here.