Local businesses reduce waste by finding new uses for soon-to-be-discarded food
Story by Rebecca Sedlak
Photos by Maiko Ando & Cathriona Smith
The bruised apple, the almost-expired milk, the day-old French baguette—perfectly edible food often finds its way into the dumpster. Americans throw away more than 25 percent of the food they prepare. Food waste, including food preparation scraps and uneaten food, accounts for 12 percent of the U.S. waste stream—the third largest portion of all waste after paper and yard refuse. That’s about 475 pounds of waste per person and 96 billion pounds of food per year, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture and the Worldwatch Institute.
The costs of this waste are high: energy and money are depleted and the environment suffers. According to a 2009 study by the National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases, each year 25 percent of U.S. water consumption and 4 percent of U.S. oil consumption contribute to producing and distributing food that is never eaten. The disposal of food waste costs about one billion dollars a year, according to the Environmental Protection Agency and USDA. In 2008, less than 3 percent of the total 32 million tons of food waste was recovered or composted. What is left ends up in landfills or is incinerated. When organic material decomposes without oxygen, bacteria produce methane gas, a leading greenhouse gas that is twenty times more effective in trapping heat in the atmosphere than carbon dioxide.
Major retail supermarket chains often throw away edible produce, dairy, bakery, deli, and meat products rather than donating these perishable items to food banks.
David Davoodi, a former employee at Fred Meyer, saw firsthand the amount of food the store had to waste. “If something hit the ground, like an apple, once it touched the ground it was dead.”
Employees scan items for inventory purposes and then throw them in the dumpster, a process that Fred Meyer employees call “shrink,” Davoodi says. Stores keep track of the food waste: The dairy department, where Davoodi worked, threw out $500 to $1,500 worth of food each week.
“I mean, you could just wash the apple off, and it would be perfectly fine,” Davoodi says. “It was kind of depressing to see how much we threw out.”
Across the country, many grocery stores are concerned over their legal responsibility when it comes to giving away food.
“They said we’d be liable if someone got sick off of expired, outdated, or damaged food,” Davoodi says.
Despite stores’ concerns, federal and state laws protect food donors from liability. The 1996 Federal Emerson Good Samaritan Food Donation Act and the Oregon Good Samaritan laws protect stores, companies, and individuals when they make donations in good faith. Donors are only subject to criminal penalty or civil damages if injury is caused by gross negligence or intentional misconduct. To have a case, a plaintiff has to prove that a company or individual deliberately tried to harm another person by donating food known to be unsafe.
Studies conducted by Fork It Over!, a food-donation program run by Portland’s Metro regional government, found no cases or suits related to food donation liability in the last few years. “Folks are just paranoid about things,” says Jennifer Erickson, Portland Metro’s senior planner of resource conservation and recycling. “There’s this old fashioned view of food rescue agencies [when] they’re actually sophisticated, modern, and clean.”
Food banks and other nonprofit organizations try to protect their donors by offering a range of liability securities, including strict rules of warehouse equipment operation, safe food handling practices, proper storage, product tracking, and recalls.
But food is still being dumped in landfills, while many Americans are still going hungry. In fact, hunger rates are increasing. According to the USDA, a household is “food secure” if each member of the house has daily access to enough food to ensure an “active, healthy life.” Approximately 15 percent of all U.S. households were food insecure in 2008—the highest amount observed since national food security surveys were initiated in 1995.
Oregon is currently the second hungriest state in the nation. According to a 2008 survey by the Oregon Food Bank, unemployment, low-wage jobs, debt, and the high costs of housing and healthcare make it difficult for low-income households to afford food. And while food stamp programs help alleviate insecurity, food stamps often don’t last a whole month.
Many companies and organizations are attempting to do something about food waste, either by reducing the price of perishable items, composting, or donating food—and thus helping those in need.
“If you’re hungry in Eugene, you can go all over and get food,” says Anthony Billington, a forty-nine-year-old homeless man who has been using food pantries like Catholic Community Services of Lane County for two years. “You’ll never go hungry in this town.”
Sundance Natural Foods store in Eugene composts deli leftovers, hot food bar waste, and damaged produce on a daily basis. After 7 p.m., Monday through Friday, the compost is free and available to the public. During the day, Sundance regulars pick up batches of compost to feed their livestock, such as ducks and chickens.
“We do all we can do to help eliminate waste,” Produce Manager Andrea Pierce says.
In addition to composting, Sundance also has a half-off shelf stacked with slightly damaged food. Since the items are below actual cost, Pierce views it as “a kind of community service.” Sundance also offers local organizations 5 to 20 pounds of free food per week in exchange for advertising Sundance as the source.
Other stores donate perishable food items directly to food banks like FOOD for Lane County (FFLC), the second largest food bank in Oregon, which supplies provisions to twenty-six distribution pantries and twenty-three ready-meal sites.
FFLC’s Fresh Alliance program works directly with grocery stores. Contributed items generally include boxes of fruit with a few over-ripe specimens or dairy products that are nearing their sell-by date.
Market of Choice, Walmart, Albertsons, and Fred Meyer are among several of the Fresh Alliance participating chain stores. In 2009, FFLC welcomed new grocery stores to the Fresh Alliance food recovery program, resulting in donations of 608,710 pounds of fresh produce, dairy, and meat—a 52 percent increase from the previous year.
“We can go in and rescue food,” says Dawn Marie Woodward, FFLC events and media relations coordinator. “Every food product has a window of opportunity.”
FOOD for Lane County offers its own liability protection with grocery stores. In the Fresh Alliance Agreement, participating supermarkets promise to store food properly, and FFLC promises to assume responsibility after pick up.
“We try very hard to work with donors,” Woodward says. “When stores understand that once the food is in our possession, it’s us not them—they’re eager to help.”

Gallery • 5 Photos

MAIKO ANDO

From Trash to Table