Mark your calendars for Food Waste Prevention Week, scheduled to take place April 7-13 this year.
The US EPA estimates that in 2019 alone, 66 million tons of wasted food was generated in the food retail, food service, and residential sectors, and most of this waste (about 60%) was sent to landfills. Food Waste Prevention Week (FWPW) is a collaborative effort to raise awareness about food waste and its negative impacts on our society and environment, while also sharing resources to help individuals, families, and organizations reduce their food waste. Because the Illinois Sustainable Technology Center (ISTC) Zero Waste team has experience working on food waste reduction and management projects, ISTC is proud to be a FWPW partner organization for the third year in a row!
Be sure to check ISTC’s social media platforms during April 7-13, for highlights of relevant projects, as well as facts and resources to help you on your food waste reduction journey. If you’re not already following us on social media, you can connect with us on Facebook and LinkedIn.
How do I get involved?
The FWPW website provides a wealth of information to help various sectors with food waste prevention efforts, including descriptions of webinars presented by partners across the country. Here are just a few suggestions for relevant activities and webinars, arranged by sector, including links to ISTC and partner organization resources, as well as links to appropriate sections of the FWPW website for further information and inspiration. Links to specific programs or services are for informational purposes only and should not be construed as endorsements by ISTC, the Prairie Research Institute, or the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign.
Colleges & Universities
- Host a “Weigh your Waste” event to get students involved and to illustrate the magnitude of food waste generated. Uneaten food from student trays from a single meal period is collected, weighed, and put on display. This offers opportunities for discussion around the causes of waste and encourages students to brainstorm ideas for reduction. See this case study from Chapman University for inspiration.
- Promote your campus chapter of the Food Recovery Network (FRN), or consider forming one if your campus is not yet participating. FRN is a non-profit that unites students with businesses and other community partners to recover perishable food and fight hunger while simultaneously fighting waste.
- Register for these webinars (and check the FWPW webinar page regularly for addition of similar events):
- NourishNet Educational Tools for Pantries and Universities, April 7, 12 PM Central
-
Innovative Strategies for Reducing Food Waste on University Campuses, April 9, 3 PM Central
See https://www.foodwastepreventionweek.com/universities for additional ideas.
Local Governments
- Check out the NRDC Food Matters Beginner’s Guide. The NRDC Food Matters project partners with cities to achieve meaningful reductions in food waste through comprehensive policies and programs. This guide introduces policymakers, agency staff, and activists to the project and provides resources related to food waste reduction and communication strategies, as well as case studies from successful initiatives in partner cities.
- Use the NRDC Guide to Making a Public Commitment on Food Waste. This can be a way to harness local leadership and constituent buy-in, while increasing accountability, and helping your city serve as inspiration for peers in other locations.
- Register for these webinars (and check the FWPW webinar page regularly for addition of similar events):
- A Case Study on Food Waste Management at a Municipality, April 7, 3 PM Central
-
How to Engage Community to Prevent Food Waste (an overview of Food Rescue US), April 8, 11 AM Central
See https://www.foodwastepreventionweek.com/cities for additional suggestions for municipalities.
K-12 Schools
- Review the suggested activities and other archived materials from the Green Lunchroom Challenge, a past US EPA-funded ISTC project focused on food waste prevention and reduction in K-12 schools.
- Engage students in the FWPW Student Art Contest. This year’s theme is “What Food Means to Me Love Letter to Food.” There’s also a FWPW Student Poetry Contest with the same theme.
- Register for these webinars (and check the FWPW webinar page regularly for addition of similar events):
- What happened when k12 educators, high school students, and life-long learners took the Make the Most of Food Challenge with a Veggie Twist? April 7, 5 PM Central
- Challenges with surplus food recovery at the public school level? Tips for how we divert 1.2 million lbs annually, April 10, 1 PM Central
See https://www.foodwastepreventionweek.com/k-12schools for additional resources for K-12 schools.
Events, Hospitality, & Sports Teams
- Review the World Wildlife Fund (WWF) toolkits and resources for fighting food waste in hospitality and food service.
- Check out the Zero Waste Event Planning Guide from Seven Generations Ahead. This guide is the basis for their famous Oak Park Microbrew Review, the Midwest’s largest zero-waste craft beverage festival.
- Watch this recorded session from Waste Expo 2019 on Food Waste Reduction and Recovery at Sports Stadiums and Other Large Venues.
- Register for these webinars (and check the FWPW webinar page regularly for addition of similar events):
- The Business Case for Zero Food Waste Initiatives at Events, April 11, 11 AM Central
- Scoring for Sustainability: A food recovery partnership with Gillette Stadium, Food Recovery Network, and Hellmann’s Mayonnaise, April 10 at 2 PM Central
See https://www.foodwastepreventionweek.com/events-hospitality for more suggestions for events and hospitality. See this link for more info for sports teams.
Restaurants
- ISTC currently has grant funding to provide free sustainability assessments for restaurants and other small food-focused businesses in DuPage and Kane counties in IL. These assessments include pollution prevention, energy efficiency, water conservation, and alternatives to hazardous chemicals, as well as waste reduction. Learn more about a recent ISTC project focused on food waste assistance for small businesses, and contact the zero waste team at istc-zerowaste@illinois.edu to explore how they might assist your business.
- See this page for additional information for restaurants.
Individuals & Families
- Explore the resources at Savethefood.com, including recipes to use up ingredients and leftovers, storage tips to keep food fresh longer, a tool to estimate the amount of food you’ll need for a certain number of guests, and other planning suggestions.
- Register for these webinars (and check the FWPW webinar page regularly for addition of similar events):
- About that Date: What you should (but might not) know about “expiration dates”, April 9, 11 AM Central
- Food Waste & Climate Change, April 9, 1:00 PM Central
- Using Them Up: How The World Makes Leftovers Taste Like New, April 8, 1 PM Central