The Fink Family Foundation catalyzes ReFED Report
Roadmap to Reduce U.S. Food Waste Report Shows Path to Cut Waste by 20% while Spurring Economic Growth, Creating Jobs, Increasing Food Security and Protecting the Environment
- ReFED’s Roadmap identifies how we can take action today to cut food waste by 20%, putting the country on target to reach the national goal of 50% reduction by 2030.
- The Roadmap’s primary finding is significant: food waste can be cut nationwide by over 13 million tons annually by implementing a suite of 27 solutions that are feasible and cost- effective today, creating $100 billion in economic value to society over a decade.
- The Roadmap is estimated to generate over 15,000 jobs, reduce 1.5% of national freshwater use, double the number of meals donated to relieve hunger and divert nearly 18 million tons of greenhouse gas emissions.
Every year, American consumers, businesses, and farms spend $218 billion growing, processing, transporting, and disposing food that is never eaten. As a result, up to 52 million tons of food is sent to landfills annually, plus an additional estimated 10 million tons get discarded or go unharvested on farms. Meanwhile, 1 in 7 Americans is food insecure without reliable access to sufficient affordable, nutritious food. A new report released March 9, 2016 from ReFED – a collaboration of over 30 business, government, investor, foundation and nonprofit leaders committed to reducing U.S. food waste – analyzes 27 viable food waste solutions that can be taken today to cut food waste in the United States by 20%. This will put the country on track to achieve the national 50% food waste reduction target by 2030, as established by the U.S. government in September 2015.
“Learning that we waste up to 40% of our food globally, and meanwhile one in seven Americans are food insecure, partnered with hands-on experiences at Millstone Farm, our operating farm, working with restaurants and grocery stores and seeing waste occur first hand, really brought this issue home for us. This prompted us as philanthropists and a family concerned about healthy communities and ecological sustainability to ask our team to explore the topic of wasted food,” said Betsy Fink, Trustee, The Fink Family Foundation and Owner, Millstone Farm. Reducing food waste is a tangible way we can all help contribute to a healthier planet and communities.
TheRoadmap to Reduce U.S. Food Waste is the first-ever national economic study of food waste to engage a multi-stakeholder group to develop a true plan for action. Its implementation would help spur economic growth, create jobs, increase food security and reduce environmental damage caused by food waste.
The Roadmap was made possible by a collaboration of foundations and organizations committed to supporting initiatives related to climate change, sustainable food systems, food access, and natural resources. Funders include: Agua Fund, Ahearn Family Foundation, Atticus Trust, The Claneil Foundation, The Closed Loop Foundation, the David & Lucile Packard Foundation, The Fink Family Foundation, GRACE Communications Foundation, Henry P. Kendall Foundation, Impact Assets, The John Merck Fund, The Lumpkin Family Foundation, The New World Foundation, The Overbrook Foundation, and Walmart Foundation. Together, these supporters are investing in the Roadmap as a way to provide a framework for regional and national funders to take action and scale solutions to reduce food waste.
“Our family foundation is proud to be a seed funder of ReFED. We’ve been investing in food waste issues for the past decade and saw a real need to develop a roadmap as a way to galvanize additional funding and action toward this important issue,” added Jesse Fink, Trustee, The Fink Family Foundation. “Working closely with groups like Community Plates, Center for EcoTechnology, Daily Table and Island Grown Gleaning has provided us with some local level, on-the-ground insights. This report will serve as a path to true impact that yields both economic and environmental benefits.”
The primary finding of the Roadmap is significant: actions that are feasible and cost-effective today can cut food waste nationwide by over 20% — or 13 million tons annually. The Roadmap will require $18 billion of investment over the next decade, less than a tenth of a penny of investment per pound of food waste reduced. This investment will yield a net economic value to society of approximately $100 billion over the same period through consumer savings on lower food bills, new sources of business profit, additional meals donated to the hungry, and a lower government tax burden.
The Roadmap uses an analytical framework to assess where waste occurs and the economic potential of each solution, enabling a level of prioritization that has not been possible in previous research. To develop the report, ReFED engaged nationally recognized consulting firms Deloitte Consulting LLP and Resource Recycling Systems and collaborated closely with The Closed Loop Fund, MissionPoint Partners, and Natural Resources Defense Council. To ensure the Roadmap accurately represented the current landscape and included actionable insights, ReFED built an Advisory Board of leading organizations across sectors including Ahold, Bon Appetit Management Company, Sodexo, Wal-Mart, Waste Management, Feeding America, Grocery Manufacturers Association, Harvard University, World Resource Institute, California State Board of Food and Agriculture, the EPA, and the cities of New York, Phoenix, and Seattle.
“Food waste is a critical issue for our society, our environment and our economy, yet until now there hasn't been a clear and comprehensive plan for reducing it. The ReFED initiative has tackled this challenge head-on and done tremendous work to identify key opportunities and solutions to reduce, recover and recycle food waste,” said Andrea Bretting, Senior Program Officer, Claneil Foundation. “This is the first time that so many leaders are coming together to address this issue, and philanthropy, impact investors and public/private partnerships can play an important role in this effort.”
Other key findings include:
- We Face a Funding gap: Most of the $18 billion of new investment needed will flow from existing government legislation and natural market forces. However, an estimated $100 to $200 million of new catalytic capital is needed annually to de-risk new innovations, overcome industry bottlenecks, provide low cost project finance, and enable multi-stakeholder solutions.
- Consumers and Businesses Benefit: Scaling Roadmap solutions is estimated to unlock $10 billion in total annual economic value for society ($100 billion over a decade), including $5.6 billion in lower food bills for families and nearly $2 billion in new business profit potential, mainly from restaurants, institutions, and food service providers.
- Recycling is Most Scalable: By investing in recycling infrastructure, training, and policy, 9.5 million tons of food scraps – nearly three-quarters of the total Roadmap potential – can be diverted annually from landfills through anaerobic digestion and composting, reducing an estimated 4.8 million tons in greenhouse gases while creating over 11,000 new jobs.
- Prevention is Most Cost-Effective: Standardizing date labels, consumer education campaigns and packaging adjustments are the most cost-effective solutions that prevent waste from occurring in the first place and provide substantial consumer savings.
These benefits are achievable, feasible, and realistic today, but they will not be realized without a concerted effort. Stakeholders must commit to four levers of action: new financing to scale proven solutions, commonsense policy change, adoption of emerging innovations, and consumer and employee education. The Roadmap is just the beginning. In the year ahead, ReFED will build on the efforts of other pioneers in this space and will facilitate collaboration with key stakeholders to begin working towards the implementation of these solutions. Additional tools and resources will be shared on the ReFED website throughout the year. Ideas, feedback and expertise to build on this work is welcomed and encouraged.
For direct links to the Roadmap’s findings and relevant infographics and resources, visit www.refed.com.