Upping Sustainability Momentum
Food Waste Reduction Alliance raises awareness, provides forum for best practices.
In mid-2010, the Food Marketing Institute (FMI) and Grocery Manufacturers Association (GMA) sat down to scope out the horizon. Of myriad issues affecting the food industry, they landed their sights on food waste. “We recognized food waste as an emerging, critical issue,” says Jeanne von Zastrow, FMI’s senior director of sustainability and industry relations.
In defining the issue, the two associations sought input from the third food-industry sector, foodservice, inviting the National Restaurant Association (NRA) to the table. By 2011, the Food Waste Reduction Alliance (FWRA) had been established, which consisted of all three organizations working toward reducing the amount of food going to landfills and feeding more of America’s hungry. The formation of FWRA put these major industry players in the unusual but desirable position of being ahead of the curve. Today, food waste is recognized as a topic that government, industry and consumers alike can rally behind.
Food Waste by the Numbers
More than 36 million tons of food waste was generated in 2011, according to the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). Food makes up the largest portion, 21 percent, of waste going into municipal landfills and combusted for energy recovery, according to the 2011 Municipal Solid Waste Characterization Report.
That’s a lot to digest. “Food waste is not a competitive issue,” says Jason Wadsworth, sustainability manager at Rochester, N.Y.-based Wegmans Food Markets Inc. and a founding member of the FWRA. “It’s one of those things that no one company can move the needle on. That’s where we tend to look for collaboration with our trade association and other associations. It’s so big, you need help with it.”
From a group of three, FWRA is now 30 strong and includes major players from each of the three food sectors, among them retailers from Publix to Kroger, manufacturers from General Mills to ConAgra, and foodservice companies from McDonald’s to Darden.
The EPA’s Food Recovery Hierarchy best illustrates the FWRA’s goals of reduce, reuse and recycle. At the top of the inverted pyramid is source reduction, or stemming the flow of food that has the potential to become waste. Diverting, or reusing safe and nutritious food for humans, is an area where retailers have demonstrated success, particularly through FWRA’s partnership with Feeding America. Store donations of healthy edible food have increased from 100 million pounds in 2004 to more than 800 million pounds in 2012. Manufacturing is far more active in driving food scraps to animal feed or in providing food waste for fuel conversion or energy. Where waste is unavoidable, incineration and landfill are last resorts.
First Things First
The alliance’s first major initiative has been to assess the retailer and supplier food waste landscape. The first-of-its-kind research surveyed retailers, manufacturers and distributors (foodservice will be included in the next survey, scheduled for fall 2013) to gather data on the sources of food waste. This benchmark provides an estimate of food waste in the U.S. food manufacturing, retail and wholesale sectors, and will allow FWRA members a base from which to manage initiatives, improve measurement and track progress.
The survey collected data on donations of unsaleable food for human consumption, food waste and recycling, food disposal, and barriers to higher rates of donation, reuse and recycling. For the full report, Analysis of U.S. Food Waste Among Food Manufacturers, Retailers and Wholesalers (April 2013), visit www.foodwastealliance.org.
While FWRA’s benchmark study outlines a number of key issues, nearly 90 percent of respondents indicate that there are barriers, either internal or external, that prevent their companies from reusing and recycling more food waste.
Many of the barriers identified support collaborative opportunities. For instance, a group of companies could focus on logistical solutions such as opening a composting facility near a cluster of food manufacturing facilities. Shared educational platforms may help companies overcome internal barriers to change.
“Our involvement with FWRA has helped create greater awareness at Wegmans,” says Wadsworth. “We knew food waste was a concern, and I’ve been working on it for six years. But [FWRA] brings this issue to the forefront for others in the organization. It’s not just the sustainability guy talking. It’s a national effort to get behind waste reduction.”
FWRA has had a similar impact at other member companies, including Publix, which also has a legacy of sustainability, including recycling, donations of unsalesables, and other initiatives to divert food waste from landfills. “What the alliance has done is brought the conversation of sustainability to the front of the table and allowed us the opportunity to share best practices and develop and share better reporting and metrics,” says Maria Brous, director of media and community relations at Lakeland, Fla.-based Publix.
Expanding the Conversation
As individual companies, alliance partners might be working toward similar goals, Wadsworth says, but “we might be learning something from others that can improve upon what we’re already doing.” Wegmans has been increasing the amount of waste it composts over the past six years. “Trying to communicate starting a composting program in a store, you want all the employees, not just the participating employees, aware of what you’re doing and why you’re doing it,” he says. From an FWRA exchange of best practices, Wadsworth has implemented a signage campaign to up the communication and awareness of composting internally.
“The conversation regarding food waste is evolving as best practices are developed and shared, and new technologies come online,” says Brous.
“We know there’s a big opportunity to increase donations of unsalable products at retail stores in the U.S.,” says Gary Piwko, director, remarketing and returns management at Battle Creek, Mich.-based Kellogg Co. “In 2012, we kicked off a pioneering partnership with Kroger for Kellogg retail store representatives to collect damaged or expired Kellogg snacks and send them to Feeding America. In the past, any of our direct store delivery foods that were damaged or expired at the retail end would have been destined for disposal. We have now expanded this program to many other retailers in the U.S.”
Von Zastrow says: “What we’re focusing on initially is to control what’s within our own four walls, including innovations, partnerships and best practices. The fact that we could bring the supplier, retail and restaurant industries together is a unique opportunity. It’s not typical that executives from these three areas will come together to share best practices. We all want to reduce food waste.”
“Food waste is not a competitive issue. It’s one of those things that no one company can move the needle on.”
–Jason Wadsworth, Wegmans
“The conversation regarding food waste is evolving as best practices are developed and shared, and new technologies come online.”
–Maria Brous, Publix