FOOD WASTE: “Smart Technology” Promises to Revolutionize Recycling
Enevo Sensor System
Carol Adaire Jones
Linda Breggin
Emmett McKinney
Wednesday, April 19, 2017

Imagine the dumpsters behind restaurant row in your community signaling their hauling company to come pick them up because they are full and about to overflow, or their food is rotting and about to stink up the neighborhood. Such are the promises for waste management of new “smart technologies,” based on sensors, radio frequency identification (RFID) tags, big data, and social networks.

Publications

Model Policies, Ordinances, and Toolkits:

These model policies, ordinances and toolkits provide off-the-shelf templates that are intended to reduce the transaction costs for resource-strapped municipalities of taking action to reduce food waste.

FOOD WASTE: Food Donation Receives a Technology Boost
smart phone and food
Linda Breggin
Carol Adaire Jones
Emmett McKinney
Wednesday, March 22, 2017

In a Vibrant Environment blog post on February 17, 2017, we provided an overview of the types of approaches that cities and states can use to address the environmental and social justice implications of wasting 40%  of the food that is produced in the United States. We addressed reducing food waste before it happens, but because that is not always possible, we turn now to the next best alternative—rescuing or donating wasted food.

FOOD WASTE: City and State Strategies for Source Reduction
Farmers Market Produce
Emmett McKinney
Linda Breggin
Carol Adaire Jones
Monday, February 20, 2017

Strategies for cities and states to reduce food waste can be thought of through the lens of the “Three Rs” of EPA’s Food Recovery Hierarchy—reduction, reuse, and recycling. In food waste terms, the Three Rs mean preventing wasted food at the source, donating wasted food leftovers, and recycling food waste through composting or anaerobic digestion.

The recent ReFED report on reducing food waste quantifies the economic value and diversion potential of different strategies related to each of the Three Rs. According to ReFED, source reduction and donation generate the most economic value per ton of food saved, while food recycling and composting have the potential to divert a much greater quantity of food from landfills.

FOOD WASTE: From The Ground Up: How Cities and States Can Be Leaders in Food Waste Reduction
Food scraps, Tim Jewett
Emmett McKinney
Linda Breggin
Carol Adaire Jones
Wednesday, December 14, 2016

In 2015, the U.S. Department of Agriculture and Environmental Protection Agency announced an ambitious goal of reducing food waste in the United States by 50% by 2030. While the change in presidential administrations presents new obstacles for many federal environmental initiatives, reducing food waste continues to offer fertile ground for cooperation.

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