What’s on the Horizon for Federal Food Waste Reduction and Prevention Policy? Part 2
Advocates for federal policy around food waste reduction and prevention have been working for years to move the needle in this space; meanwhile we get close to 2030, the year that EPA has called for a 50% cut in food waste, which the country is far from reaching. ReFED reports it would require reducing the material by 45 million tons annually to hit the 2030 goal.
This article is the second in a two-part series on policy around food waste loss and prevention. Part 1 includes comments from multiple stakeholders—mainly their projections on if and how Congress and the Biden Administration will work together on policy around food waste loss and prevention.
In Part 2, Waste360 looks at an ambitious policy action plan created by partners who have some large asks of Congress and President Biden.
COVID-related costs along with the Biden Administration’s plans to invest heavily in slowing Climate Change and in building infrastructure leave little money for other mega-budget initiatives. But four long-time partners who are fighting for food waste and loss prevention policy believe this is actually an opportune time to call on the federal government to support their agenda.
The partners are the World Wildlife Fund (WWF), Harvard Law School Food Law and Policy Clinic, ReFED, and the National Resource Defense Council. They recently finished their U.S. Food Loss & Waste Policy Action Plan that asks Congress and President Biden to take action to halve food waste by 2030, in line with the target set by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (U.S. EPA) and the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA).
“We knew that infrastructure, job creation, and climate change would be early priorities for the Administration, and they all align with addressing food waste,” says Alex Nichols-Vinueza, manager on the World Wildlife Fund Food Waste team.
“Reducing the country's food waste in half would lower U.S. greenhouse gas emissions by an estimated 75 million metric tons of CO2 equivalent annually. We would be able to rescue four billion meals for people in need each year (at a time when one in four adults face hunger). And it would create 51,000 jobs over the coming decade,” he says.
Building food waste management infrastructure alone could generate 18,000 jobs annually through 2030 and help cut greenhouse gas emissions by 5.8 million metric tons of CO2 equivalent a year, according to Nichols-Vinueza and a ReFED report.
“So, the timing felt right to come together and quickly harmonize our asks to policymakers,” he says.
The Food Loss & Waste Policy Action Plan focuses on five areas and makes specific recommendations under each. Those areas are:
Invest in infrastructure to measure, rescue, recycle, and prevent organic waste from entering landfills and incinerators.
Expand incentives to institutionalize surplus food donation and strengthen regional supply chains.
Assert the U.S. government’s leadership on food loss and waste globally and domestically (with an emphasis on adopting a food waste reduction goal in the U.S. 2030 Nationally Determined Contribution