Leelanau CROWD presents: A Panel on Food Waste Prevention in our Community
April 21 @ 1:00 pm - 3:00 pm
According to the EPA, in the US, 1/3 of food grown goes uneaten, wasting the resources used to grow, harvest, transport, store and process that food. The average family of four spends $1500 per year on food that does not get eaten. When that uneaten food ends up in a landfill, it produces methane, a potent greenhouse gas. Food waste is responsible for 58% of landfill emissions. Come learn about how 3 organizations are preventing food waste in our community and learn about what you can do too!
Food Rescue
https://www.goodwillnmi.org/
Each year, Food Rescue, a program of Goodwill Northern Michigan, prevents 2 million pounds of food from going to waste—redirecting the equivalent of $3.34 million worth of food to people instead of landfills. Rather than wasting 129 million gallons of water, the energy to power 130 homes or fuel 230 vehicles, and the labor of hundreds of thousands of farmworkers, truck drivers, and food service workers, nearly 11,000 adults and 5,000 children receive free meals and groceries.
Every day, we rescue, repack, and distribute 8,000 pounds of food to 82 food pantries and community meal sites in the Northwest Food Coalition. Forty-two percent of that food is fresh or frozen produce. Our work is powered by strong community partnerships: we work with more than 115 local grocery stores, bakeries, food distributors and processors, 82 farms, and 15 schools to rescue and distribute food across a rural, six-county region—at no cost to our partners.
Committed to building a more just, community-based food system, Food Rescue helps reduce greenhouse gas emissions, increase access to healthy food, support local agriculture, and collaborate with the diverse communities and key stakeholders in our region.
5Loaves2Fish
https://www.5loaves2fishnmi.
5Loaves2FishNMI is an outreach group that promotes compassion by providing nourishing meals, infused with love, to those experiencing food insecurity and homelessness. We feed people. 5Loaves2FishNMI proudly serves meals in nine different locations across three counties.
SEEDS
https://ecoseeds.org/
With support from the Food Waste Warrior Grant awarded by World Wildlife Fund, SEEDS has partnered with area schools to host food waste audits. Measuring the amount of wasted food, categorizing what type is wasted, and asking students why has led to an increased awareness and understanding of food wasted in a school setting. The data collected in food waste audits helps both the school and students to create actionable strategies to prevent food waste in the future.
