Keeping nutrients out of landfills and into the hands of those who need it.
By Alyson Schill
Cities have not always known their true strength in tackling municipal food waste, which remains a major issue in many communities across the country and is generated by residential, commercial and institutional food sectors. According to the 2025 ReFed鈥檚 report, the U.S. generated 73.9 million tons of surplus food in 2023, with the largest source of waste coming from residential areas (26 million tons), followed by farms (17.6 million tons), manufacturing (13.2 million tons), foodservice (12.7 million tons), and retail (4.45 million tons).
These harrowing facts highlight the need for municipalities who do not have a city-wide food donation program in place to get one started sooner rather than later. It takes calculated and strategic efforts for a city to manage a food donation program, collaborate with multiple entities and connect donors and recipient organizations. Key benefits of launching a local food donation program include:
鈥� Improve the health and well-being of residents
鈥� Gain carbon credits as a potential funding source for food rescue nonprofits that tackle both food waste and greenhouse gas emissions
鈥� Address food insecurity and gaps in food access
鈥� Strengthen community involvement with encouraged volunteerism and collaboration
鈥� Provide relief to nonprofits by freeing up their food costs to use for other services
Step One: Create a Capacity Assessment of What Resources are Already Available in Your Local Community and Nearby Jurisdictions
Determine who in your community is most in need of food assistance and where they are located in relation to relief agencies including food pantries that give food to their residents, halfway houses/rehabilitation homes/shelters, WIC programs and other resources for people finding meals/groceries.
Do not forget to reach out to nearby jurisdictions if other resources can be shared in close proximity/demographics. Partnering with your 鈥渘eighbors鈥� is essential in creating good food programs because hunger knows no boundaries.
Step Two: Find an Existing Coalition of People and/or Organizations Working on Surplus Food Donation Resources
If this coalition does not exist, the city should launch meetings, workshops, etc. to set up a coalition to do it themselves. Be mindful that when working collectively, all resources should be inclusive and not siloed. Emergency food relief can be worked on together to find out the following:
鈥� Food desert locations
鈥� Where can surplus food be found
鈥� Family foundations that can help with nutritious meal purchases
Step Three: Identify Ways to More EffectivelyConnect Food Resources and Monetary Resources to Emergency Food Service Providers
Check to see if your city has the budget or underused resources to provide food storage for the repurposing and repackaging of food that is available. In addition, you will need to confirm if a 鈥渉ub鈥� needs to be developed is already in place to redistribute all types of prepared meals or surplus food for all local emergency food relief agencies.
Another key component of your food donation program is partnering with a technology service that can help connect food in its last mile from food donors, corporations and business to local food relief organizations. Your food donation and rescue tech provider should check off the following boxes to maximum your program鈥檚 efficiency:
鈥� Avoid Donation Dumping: Not all donations are created equal, and large amounts of inedible foods can burden nonprofits. Work with a tech provider that gives nonprofits the ability to select donations that match their needs and capacity.
鈥� Stay Compliant: Donate with ease with a green tech company that is compliant with many food waste policies across the U.S., while driving efficiencies and producing numerous cost savings.
鈥� Track Excess Food Inventory: Collaborate with a food rescue partner that provides partnership opportunities for local businesses to track excess food inventory in real-time, making it easier to identify when you have excess food that can be donated. Without accurate data and an efficient tracking system data, efforts to prevent food waste can be ineffective.
Step Four: Duplicate Your Food Donation Reallocation Process for Animal Food Rescue Efforts
If there is a source of food that is not edible for humans (i.e. salad bars, timed out produce, etc.), redirect them so it can be served to animals to provide nutrition. This helps keep food in the nutrient economy and enables local farmers to greatly reduce their feed costs.
Organizations and Businesses can streamline food scrap donations by following these steps:
1. Train employees on which scraps are acceptable and how to avoid contamination
2. Set up separate collection bins that works for both donors and recipients
3. Partner with a food and rescue tech provider to connect food donors to local farmers
4. Keep records of your food waste reduction impact
Step Five: Have a Data Software in Place to Monitor and Track Your Food Donation Program Efficiency for Added Community and Corporate Benefits
Cities need food donation data to effectively demonstrate the efficacy of their food donation programs. Businesses need data to create tax deductions. Nonprofits need the data to apply for carbon credits for additional funding opportunities.
It is imperative to have a rigorous data set to prove effectiveness of food waste prevention and surplus food donation. Many moving parts go into successfully obtaining carbon credits to measure effectiveness of implementing a food donation program.
It takes all of us to come together in the fight against food waste, and it starts right in our own backyards. Municipalities taking the lead to collaborate with businesses, neighboring jurisdictions, farmers and local community organizations are helping to combat hunger and preserve our planet for years to come. | WA
Food Waste Management Case Study
Case Study: Clean Memphis Partners with Careit to Rescue Surplus Food with 鈥淧roject Green Fork鈥�
Project Green Fork (PGF), a program of Clean Memphis, has been helping Memphis restaurants become more sustainable since 2008. Since that time, the matter of surplus food has become a prominent issue of national importance but with highly local implementation.
Assessing a Critical Need
Even though Memphis has consistently high rates of philanthropic giving and a large number of nonprofits, some donations are not the right size or type for traditional food banks to accept. A handful of restaurants and event spaces were donating prepared foods, but their efforts were highly dependent on employee initiatives and went mostly unrecorded.
PGF team members performed a landscape assessment of local nonprofits who feed vulnerable neighbors, and learned two critical needs were a platform to connect with other organizations and an effective method to track food donations.
Choosing the Right Food Donation and Rescue Tech Partner
Clean Memphis looked to unserved prepared foods as a new source of nutrition to combat food insecurity, as this has traditionally been overlooked and underused for rescue. The modest-sized 20 to 200-pound donation was ideal for Memphis nonprofits, many of whom do not have dedicated vehicles or storage space for huge amounts of food. In August 2023, Clean Memphis selected Careit as its rescue software for surplus food donations for its Project Green Fork program because of the:
鈥� Number of manageable features available
鈥� Simple and easy-to-use interface
鈥� Responsive customer service
鈥� Flexible pricing structure
鈥淪haring our surplus is both an act of neighborliness that reflects our city culture and a no-nonsense decision that supports businesses,鈥� said Leann Edwards, Project Green Fork Program Director. 鈥淲orking with Careit has helped remove barriers for Project Green Fork participation from both donors and nonprofit agencies.鈥�
100,000-lb Donation Milestone and Future Partnership Outlook
After one year, Project Green Fork successfully recorded the rescue of 100,000 pounds on Careit. Beyond this milestone, Clean Memphis is proud of the number of individual interactions this represents. Each business and each nonprofit voluntarily donates and accepts food through the Careit app to further their missions, as well as the collective good.
Due to the success of Project Green Fork, Clean Memphis plans to continue its partnership with Careit to help feed more Memphians in need.
To read more Careit partner case studies, visit https://careit.com/success-stories.
Alyson Schill is the CEO and co-founder of Careit鈥攁 food donation and rescue app鈥攖hat provides free and paid subscription. She co-founded Careit in 2021 and launched it nationally in 2023, resulting in more than 150 million pounds of tracked food donations, resulting in 125 million meals served to those in need (estimated worth of $300 million). With 10,000 food donors and 3,000 nonprofits using the platform, Allison is determined to expand Careit鈥檚 reach to combat hunger and waste. She can be reached at [email protected].