Day 4 Rescuing edible food
Zero Waste Week 2022
Today we’ll dive into the topic of Rescuing Edible Food!
The city of Gainesville has partnered with The Repurpose Project and Zero Waste Gainesville to create the Food Waste Reduction and Recovery program.
The goal of this program is to gather information, talk to stakeholders, and identify barriers to diverting edible food from the waste stream. This will allow us to create an educational program for food-generating businesses on how to follow the US EPA Food Recovery Hierarchy.
If you are an owner or manager of a food-generating business, we encourage you to take this survey. It will give us valuable information for this project.
Benefits to Food-Generating Businesses for following the Food Recovery Hierarchy:
Fewer resources being sent to the landfill
Fewer greenhouse gas emission at the landfill
Edible food is rescued to feed the food insecure in our community
Edible food is rescued to feed local animals
The community collaborates on waste reduction efforts that benefit many
The community is one step closer to Zero Waste
What’s being done locally to rescue edible food?
Gainesville Harvest - Approximately 80 volunteers pick up unused food from local supermarkets and restaurants and deliver it to over 50 local charitable organizations throughout our community.
Direct connection between food-generating businesses and the food insecure.
MEANS Database - a non profit dedicated to connecting edible food for recovery to those who need it
Food Donors, be sure to become familiar with the Bill Emerson Good Samaritan Food Donation Act of 1996
Learn more about this law from the USDA here.
*Download a PDF version of this content.
prevent food waste at home
Scroll through the gallery below for helpful tips for preventing food waste.
community resources
Our community is filled with amazing organizations dedicated to reducing food waste and connecting food to the people who need it. Check them out! (Select ‘Enter Full Screen’ in the bottom panel of the slide to expand. Mobile users please rotate screen for optimum viewing).