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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 Waste Webinars and Presentations
- 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, 208K) 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 Version (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.
- 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 Department of Resources Recycling and Recovery’s (CalRecycle’s) Food for Thought: Restaurant Guide to Waste Reduction and Recycling
presents an overview of waste management practices for the restaurant industry.
- California Department of Resources Recycling and Recovery’s (CalRecycle’s) Targeted Statewide Waste Characterization Study: Waste Disposal and Diversion Findings for Selected Industry Groups (PDF) (146 pp, 1.2MB) quantifies and characterizes material that is disposed as well as the material that is recycled or otherwise diverted by key types of commercial establishments, including fast food restaurants, full-service restaurants, and food stores.
- 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.
- Northeast Recycling Council’s Guidance for Special Event Food Waste Diversion (PDF) (102 pp, 2.1MB) describes food waste diversion pilots in Connecticut, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, and Vermont. These pilots demonstrated different methodologies for designing and implementing diversion programs for pre- and post-consumer food, as well as compostable service ware, and soiled paper. Research and results from the project contributed to development of this guidance document.
- 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 Waste Webinars and Presentations
- Sustainable Food Management Webinar Series is designed to help increase our understanding of food waste issues, and to support grocers, venues, and universities in EPA's Food Recovery Challenge.
- Sustainable Materilas Management Web Academy: Food Waste/Organics Reduction and Recycling
- 2010 Roundtable Discussion: Taking a Bite Out of Food Waste Sessions
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.
- 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.
- DC Central Kitchen is building long-term solutions to the interconnected problems of poverty, hunger, and homelessness through job training, meal distribution, and supporting local food systems.
- 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 Department of Resources Recycling and Recovery ’s (CalRecycle’s) Food Scrap Management Web site provides information and resources to help reduce food waste and save money on disposal costs.
- California Department of Resources Recycling and Recovery ’s (CalRecycle’s) Food for Thought: Restaurant Guide to Waste Reduction and Recycling , a food waste prevention guide. Also see CalRecycle’s Food Service Waste Reduction Tips and Ideas fact sheet .
- North Carolina’s Green Plan for the Food Service Industry includes links to fact sheets and presentations on food waste.
- Stopwaste.org’s Food Scrap Recycling describes the residential food scrap recycling program in Alameda County (California).
- North Memorial Healthcare (Minneapolis) saved thousands of dollars a week by reducing food waste: (U-tube video).
Food Waste Education Curricula 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 Websites
- Food Waste Website
- Organic Materials Website
- WasteWise
- Composting Website
- Biodiesel: Fat to Fuel
- Water & Energy Efficiency in Water and Wastewater Facilities
Other Websites
- The Green Plan for the Food Service Industry: Oil and Grease
- Food waste blog
- Green Seal Restaurants and Food Seervices
- Green Seal™ Environmental Standard for Restaurants and Food Services (PDF) (44 pp, 495K)
- 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 (Excel spreadsheet)
- Lean Path’s Guide to Food Waste Management Best Practices (PDF) (9 pp, 500K)
