{"id":34936,"date":"2023-07-28T16:00:43","date_gmt":"2023-07-28T20:00:43","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.marioninstitute.org\/?page_id=34936"},"modified":"2023-08-07T13:41:34","modified_gmt":"2023-08-07T17:41:34","slug":"food-recovery","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/www.marioninstitute.org\/programs\/sfpc\/food-recovery\/","title":{"rendered":"Food Recovery"},"content":{"rendered":"
[vc_row full_width=”stretch_row” content_placement=”middle” wpex_bg_overlay=”dark” css=”.vc_custom_1645307334823{background-image: url(http:\/\/www.marioninstitute.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/givingfruit.jpg?id=14848) !important;background-position: center !important;background-repeat: no-repeat !important;background-size: cover !important;}” min_height=”150px” wpex_bg_overlay_opacity=”.2″][vc_column][vc_single_image image=”31957″ img_size=”770×100″ alignment=”left” onclick=”custom_link” visibility=”hidden-phone” css=”.vc_custom_1690823604120{padding-top: 70px !important;padding-bottom: 70px !important;}” link=”https:\/\/www.marioninstitute.org\/programs\/sfpc\/”][vc_single_image image=”14852″ img_size=”170×170″ alignment=”center” visibility=”visible-phone” css=”.vc_custom_1645307494112{padding-top: 20px !important;}”][\/vc_column][\/vc_row][vc_row css=”.vc_custom_1690820326112{padding-top: 60px !important;}”][vc_column][vc_column_text color=”#cf4c27″ font_size=”24″ css=”.vc_custom_1690661341269{padding-bottom: 20px !important;}” font_weight=”bold”]THE FOOD SYSTEM<\/a>[\/vc_column_text]

Food Recovery<\/span><\/h1><\/div>[\/vc_column][\/vc_row][vc_row full_width=”stretch_row” content_placement=”middle” css=”.vc_custom_1690659384403{padding-top: 40px !important;padding-bottom: 40px !important;background-color: #c3e7a0 !important;}”][vc_column width=”1\/4″][vc_single_image image=”35000″ css_animation=”bottom-to-top” alignment=”center” css=”.vc_custom_1690667552880{padding-right: 30px !important;padding-left: 30px !important;}”][\/vc_column][vc_column width=”3\/4″][vc_column_text font_size=”24″ line_height=”snug” color=”#073a6a”]According to the United Nations Sustainable Development Goal 12, “Ensuring Sustainable Consumption and Production<\/a>,” too much food is being lost or wasted in every country through endemic and systemic ‘food loss’.<\/strong>[\/vc_column_text][\/vc_column][\/vc_row][vc_row full_width=”stretch_row” css=”.vc_custom_1691420767128{padding-top: 40px !important;padding-bottom: 40px !important;background-color: #edf8e2 !important;}”][vc_column width=”1\/2″][vc_column_text css_animation=”top-to-bottom” color=”#cf4c27″ font_size=”24″ line_height=”25px” font_weight=”bold” text_align=”center”]13.3%[\/vc_column_text][vc_column_text color=”#073a6a” font_size=”18″ line_height=”25px” text_align=”center”]of the world’s food is lost during harvesting, transportation, storage, and food processing.[\/vc_column_text][\/vc_column][vc_column width=”1\/2″][vc_column_text css_animation=”top-to-bottom” color=”#cf4c27″ font_size=”24″ line_height=”25px” font_weight=”bold” text_align=”center”]17%[\/vc_column_text][vc_column_text color=”#073a6a” font_size=”18″ line_height=”25px” text_align=”center”]of the food is wasted at the consumer level – the house, grocery store, or restaurant – by purchasing patterns in which we buy more than we can use, not recovering edible food to share with food relief organizations, or not composting.[\/vc_column_text][\/vc_column][\/vc_row][vc_row css=”.vc_custom_1691421509464{padding-top: 40px !important;}”][vc_column][vc_column_text color=”#073a6a” font_size=”18″ line_height=”25px” text_align=”left”]Also according to Goal 12, our over-reliance on natural resources, such as how we use land and water to grow food, is increasing, with usage rising over 65% from 2000-2019. Over 733 million people live in countries with high and critical levels of water stress, which not only means difficulty in growing food and raising animals but also leads to conflict over the sharing and distribution of crucial resources at all geographic levels \u2013 from county to country. Our significant usage highlights the loops and interconnectedness of our food system: with our conventional agricultural practices, we are putting our natural resources at significant and critical risk to continue to grow food at a global scale. With a significant portion of food that we grow ending up wasted in the field or in the landfill, we are further exacerbating the pressures on natural resources as well as causing a series of additional environmental impacts.<\/p>\n

There are significant challenges in food waste and food recovery in the United States with food waste being the most significant component (roughly 20-25%) of municipal solid waste. According to Dr. Roni Neff from the Johns Hopkins University Bloomberg School of Public Health, we put 40% of the food supply in the United States into landfills, waste-to-energy facilities, or other disposal facilities. Considering the resources that go into our food: the water, the soil, and compost or fertilizer \u2013 only to throw out almost half of our food is not only an incredible and increasingly unconscionable waste of natural resources, but it also has other significant environmental impacts. This food waste releases almost a quarter of US methane emissions as it decomposes, with a comparative impact 28 times greater than carbon dioxide on our atmosphere (Overview of Greenhouse Gases | US EPA<\/a>). Some of this gas is recovered through anaerobic digestion or landfill gas recovery systems, but for most facilities across the country, it is released into the atmosphere.[\/vc_column_text][\/vc_column][\/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_separator color=”custom” style=”dashed” border_width=”3″ accent_color=”#c3e7a0″ css=”.vc_custom_1690659639971{padding-top: 30px !important;padding-bottom: 30px !important;}”][\/vc_column][\/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column width=”1\/4″][vc_column_text css_animation=”right-to-left” color=”#cf4c27″ font_size=”24″ line_height=”snug” font_weight=”bold” text_align=”left”]Reduce Food Waste[\/vc_column_text][\/vc_column][vc_column width=”3\/4″][vc_column_text color=”#073a6a” font_size=”18″ line_height=”25px” text_align=”left”]On the Southcoast, Bristol, Plymouth, and Norfolk counties’ 2021 Southcoast Food System Assessment (link for FSA) showed promising trajectories for our regional food recovery and waste. Since 2014, food rescued and food donated have increased by 30%. Food waste collection has increased by 50% since 2014. Some of these results can be attributed to policy successes at the State level. From 2014 to 2020, the MA State Organic Waste Ban Policy prevented an estimated 1.5 million tons of food from going into landfills. In November 2022, the waste ban expanded to businesses and institutions producing \u00bd ton or more commercial organic material per week. While these policy changes have had a significant impact in diverting food waste from waste disposal facilities, we still have work to do to reduce food waste at the source. You can see a list of farms, nonprofits, and businesses that accept organic food scraps and organic waste here https:\/\/www.mass.gov\/doc\/map-list-of-massachusetts-sites-accepting-diverted-food-material-february-2023download<\/a><\/p>\n

While food waste in the US has increased by 50% since 1970, according to Neff, there are clear and simple steps we can take to reverse that trend. Across the nation and in your home, we can make a few minor changes \u2013 whether as an individual consumer, a restaurant, or an institution \u2013 and have a significant impact. These strategies would ease the increasing stress on natural resources and reduce greenhouse gas emissions.[\/vc_column_text][\/vc_column][\/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_separator color=”custom” style=”dashed” border_width=”3″ accent_color=”#c3e7a0″ css=”.vc_custom_1690659639971{padding-top: 30px !important;padding-bottom: 30px !important;}”][\/vc_column][\/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text css_animation=”fadeIn” color=”#cf4c27″ font_size=”24″ line_height=”snug” font_weight=”bold” text_align=”left”]Using the EPA\u2019s Food Recovery Hierarchy as a guide, these are steps you can take to reduce food waste in your own life:[\/vc_column_text][\/vc_column][\/vc_row][vc_row css=”.vc_custom_1691421703706{padding-top: 40px !important;}”][vc_column width=”1\/4″][vc_single_image image=”35157″ css_animation=”bottom-to-top” alignment=”center” css=”.vc_custom_1691422938509{padding-right: 30px !important;padding-left: 30px !important;}”][\/vc_column][vc_column width=”3\/4″][vc_column_text color=”#073a6a” font_size=”18″ line_height=”25px” text_align=”left”]\n