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Food Waste Management Tools and Resources
Food Waste
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- Food Waste Management Tools
- Food Waste Management Publications
- Food Donation Centers and Information
- Additional Food Waste Management Resources
- Food Waste Education Curriculums and Student Activities
- Links
Food Waste Management Tools
- Food Waste Audit Log (PDF) (2 pp, 166K) – worksheets that help you record and track your food waste generation and causes
- Food Waste Management Cost Calculator estimates the cost competitiveness of alternatives to food waste disposal.
Food Waste Management Publications
- EPA's Putting
Surplus Food to Good Use: A How-To Guide for Food Service
Providers (PDF) (2 pp, 1.1MB)
helps food service providers start a food waste reduction
and recovery program at their facilities.
- EPA's Waste
Not/Want Not: Feeding the Hungry and Reducing Solid Waste
Through Food Recovery (PDF) (59
pp, 1.4MB), developed in conjunction with the US
Department of Agriculture, details what businesses and individuals
can do to ensure good food doesn't go to waste.
- EPA's Waste Reduction Record-Setters Don't
Throw Away That Food: Strategies for Record-Setting Waste
Reduction provides case studies from several communities
for recovery of food discards.
- EPA's Donating Surplus Food to the Needy (PDF) (4
pp, 121K) addresses the donation of surplus food
as part of a waste reduction program. Discusses traditional
food banks; prepared and perishable food programs; food
program services; donor responsibilities; and common concerns.
- EPA's Managing Food Scraps as Animal Feed (PDF) (4 pp, 110K, about PDF) encourages using food scraps as hog and cattle feed to divert
waste from the landfill. You can save your company money
in hauling and disposal costs.
- A
Guide to Commercial Food Composting, compiled by EPA
and the Composting Council.
- Best Management Practices (BMPs) for Incorporating Food Residuals into Existing Yard Waste Programs (PDF) (34 pp, 3.2MB) assists yard waste composting facilities in expanding operations to include food residuals.
- A Citizen's Guide to Food Recovery - This USDA publication is a resource guide on food recovery programs for businesses, community-based profit or nonprofit organizations, private citizens, and public officials. It describes some of the prominent food recovery activities already taking place, and suggests how a community, a business, or an individual can support existing programs or begin new efforts. It also outlines key considerations relating to legal issues and food safety.
- California Integrated Waste Management Board's Food
for Thought: Restaurant Guide to Waste Reduction and Recycling
presents an overview of waste management practices for the
restaurant industry.
- The Center for Ecological Technology (CET) Composting
in Restaurants and Schools - A Municipal Toolkit (PDF)
(68 pp, 2.2MB)
includes a step-by-step description of how to set up a food
waste diversion program.
- Connecticut's Identifying,
Quantifying, and Mapping Food Residuals from Connecticut
Businesses and Institutions (PDF) (89 pp, 326K)
study identified, quantified, and mapped all of the large-scale
commercial and institutional locations in Connecticut where
potentially recyclable food scraps are generated, and matched
those sources against the state's transportation network
and current composting infrastructure.
- Food Composting Infrastructure is BioCycle's national survey of composting sites processing food residuals.
- Georgia's A
Fact Sheet for Managing Food Materials (PDF) (5
pp, 205K)
encourages businesses, such as food service providers, processors,
and merchandisers to eliminate waste and recover food waste.
- Massachusetts' Supermarket Composting Handbook (PDF) (78 pp, 1.4MB) is a guide to help supermarkets establish composting programs.
- North Carolina's Organics:
Food Residuals Market Assessment fact sheet (PDF) (7
pp, 224K) provides an overview of supply and demand of food residuals.
- The Green Plan for the Food Service Industry is a North Carolina Web site dedicated to helping reduce food waste in the food service industry.
- The Ohio Grocer’s Association Composting and Diversion Guide was developed to explain to grocers how to divert organics from the waste stream.
- Oregon's Commercial
Food Waste Composting Study Project Report
presents the findings of a study comparing different methods
of composting.
Food Donation Centers and Information
- Food Bank Locator Feeding America is the largest domestic hunger-relief organization in the United States. On this site you can find your local food bank or food rescue organization by entering your zip code.
- Donating Surplus Food to the Needy (PDF) (4 pp, 120K) focuses on Prepared and Perishable Food Programs, also called food recovery programs or surplus food distribution programs, that redistribute small volumes of freshly prepared foods and perishables.
- The Federal Food Donation Act of 2008 (Public Law 110-247) which encourages executive agencies and their contractors, in contracts for the provision, service, or sale of food, to the maximum extent practicable and safe, to donate apparently wholesome excess food to nonprofit organizations that provide assistance to food-insecure people in the United States.
- Rock
and Wrap It Up!
is an independent anti-poverty think tank based
in New York. It is non-profit and nonpartisan,
an organization devoted to developing innovative
greening solutions to the pressing issues of hunger
and poverty in America. They cover over 500 cities
and work with a national database of over 43,000
shelters and places of need.
- Food + Rescue currently lists 48 Food Rescue chapters in 18 states. Visit Food Rescue Volunteer Schedule & Pick-up Instructions to find a Food Rescue chapter in your area.
- Food Donation Connection provides information on food safety.
Additional Food Waste Management Resources
- California Integrated Waste Management Board's (CIWMB's) Food
Scrap Management Web site provides information and resources to help reduce food waste and save money on disposal costs.
- California Integrated Waste Management Board's (CIWMB's) Food for Thought: Restaurant Guide to Waste Reduction and Recycling , a food waste prevention guide. Also see CIWMB's Food Service Waste Reduction Tips and Ideas fact sheet .
- The Solid Waste Resource Renewal Group at Rutgers, The State University
of New Jersey (SWPG) has a Food Waste Initiative . Through the only New Jersey-wide food residuals recycling initiative, SWRRG has brought together waste generators, recyclers, and government to find optimal ways of diverting food waste away from methane production in landfills and into production of energy and soil amendments
- North Carolina's Green
Plan for the Food Service Industry includes links to fact sheets and presentations on food
waste.
- Seattle Public Utilities' Composting Kitchen Scraps page describes how to compost food waste for the homeowner.
- Stopwaste.org's Food
Scrap Recycling describes the residential food scrap recycling program in
Alameda County (California).
- WasteCap of Wisconsin's Information
on Recycling Food and Organic Residuals provides information for businesses and institutions.
- North Memorial Healthcare (Minneapolis) saved thousands of dollars a week by reducing food waste: (U-tube video).
- Using Contemporary Archaeology and Applied Anthropology to Understanding Food Loss in the American Food System (PDF) (6 pp, 128K) – University of Arizona
Food Waste Education Curriculums and Student Activities
- Pack
a Waste Free Lunch contains a poster and activities
that will help students learn how to reduce, reuse, and
recycle items in their school lunches.
- School
Composting…The Next Step in Recycling - A Manual for
Connecticut Schools ,
a manual written specifically for K-12 schools, outlines
the steps necessary for establishing and maintaining a successful
school-wide composting program for cafeteria food scraps.
- Wisconsin's Environmental Education for Kids! (EEK!) Composting
with Worms
page details how to set up a composting bin with worms for
food scraps.
Links
EPA Web Sites
- Food Waste Web site
- Organic Materials Web site
- WasteWise
- Composting Web site
- Biodiesel: Fat to Fuel
- Water & Energy Efficiency in Water and Wastewater Facilities
Other Web Sites
- The Green Plan for the Food Service Industry: Oil and Grease
- Food waste blog
- Green Seal™ Environmental Standard for Restaurants and Food Services
- Green Seal™ Food Materials Management guide (PDF) (2 pp, 97K)
- Green Seal™ Food Purchasing Guide (PDF) (2 pp, 98K)
- Conduct an audit of your operations using Green Seal's free calculator
- Lean Path’s Guide to Food Waste Management Best Practices (PDF) (9 pp, 500K)
