Contact Information: David W. Bryan, APR, 913-551-7433, bryan.david@epa.gov

LENEXA, KAN. (JAN. 27, 2022) – Today, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) recognizes the Food Rescue Partnership (FRP) in the Quad Cities, as one of 18 businesses and organizations honored nationally for notable achievements and innovations in EPA’s Food Recovery Challenge in 2020 and 2021. 

“The EPA Food Recovery Challenge Award winners demonstrate how preventing food waste and diverting excess wholesome food away from landfills and to people is important for the environment and for communities,” said EPA Administrator Michael S. Regan. “Their accomplishments serve as excellent examples to other companies, governments, organizations and communities, particularly because food is the single largest category of waste. We have an obligation to follow the lead of our award winners, not only for the sake of 35 million food-insecure Americans, but also to prevent emissions that contribute to climate change.”  

Through the Food Recovery Challenge (FRC), EPA has worked with organizations and businesses for the past decade to set data-driven goals, implement targeted strategies to reduce wasted food in their operations, and report results to compete for recognition.

“Community-based organizations and businesses are the lifeblood of our food recovery program,” said EPA Region 7 Administrator Meghan A. McCollister. “As we celebrate FRP’s successes with this award, we invite other businesses and organizations to step up and join us in this valuable community endeavor.”

The FRP is a coalition in the Quad Cities of Iowa and Illinois that promotes rescuing food for its best possible use to achieve the vision of a Quad Cities community dedicated to eliminating food waste. The FRP aims to achieve this goal by providing food rescue education to professional food establishments, retail food stores, and the community at large.

“The Food Rescue Partnership educates local food establishments about food recovery, so it was a natural fit to become an endorser of the EPA Food Recovery Challenge. Our local Food Rescue Recognition Program continues to expand,” said FRP Board Chair Christina McDonough. “There are 19 Quad Cities establishments recognized for their exemplary food recovery efforts that feed hungry people, feed animals, or compost. Through the collaborated efforts of our stakeholders and community partners, the FRP has diverted over 26.5 tons of food from the landfill.”

During 2019 and 2020, FRC national awardees implemented innovative approaches and engaged in practical, cost-effective actions and best practices to prevent and reduce wasted food.  Many FRC national awardees provided much-needed food during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Nearly 600 businesses, governments and organizations actively participated in EPA’s Food Recovery Challenge in 2020-2021. Since the launch of the program in 2011, FRC partners prevented or diverted over 5.5 million tons of wasted food from entering landfills or incinerators. In the most recent reporting cycle, FRC partners prevented or diverted about 1.2 million tons of food from entering landfills or incinerators, saving partners up to $61.5 million in avoided landfill tipping fees.

Background
Each year in the United States, 73 to 152 million metric tons of food is lost or wasted during all stages of the food supply chain (from primary production to consumption), according to the EPA’s November 2021 report, From Farm to Kitchen: The Environmental Impacts of U.S. Food Waste. Food waste adversely impacts the economy, communities, and the environment by wasting the resources used to grow and transport it. Preventing food waste and keeping food and other organics out of landfills mitigates climate change, as an estimated eight percent of global greenhouse gas emissions come from wasted food. At the same time, uneaten food contains enough calories to feed more than 150 million people each year, far more than the 35 million estimated food insecure Americans.  

Best practices used by FRC awardees to reduce wasted food in their operations, in addition to actions taken by individuals and communities, keep wasted food from landfills. Their actions also bring the United States closer to meeting the re-aligned national goal with the United Nation’s Sustainable Development Goal Target 12.3 to cut food loss and waste in half by 2030.  

For more information on the Food Recovery Challenge national and regional awardees, visit:
www.epa.gov/sustainable-management-food/food-recovery-challenge-results-and-award-winners.

For information on the national food loss and waste reduction goal, visit: www.epa.gov/sustainable-management-food/call-action-stakeholders-united-states-food-loss-waste-2030-reduction.

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Iowa, Kansas, Missouri, Nebraska, and Nine Tribal Nations

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