NRDC Launches New Food Matters Initiatives

Starting with the Southeast and Mid-Atlantic regions, NRDC is launching a Food Matters Regional Initiative program, with the goal of furthering larger-scale change related to food waste at a regional level.

They selected five cities to participate in each regional initiative, including previous partner cities as “hub cities” in each region.  The cities participating in this roll out are: Baltimore, Nashville, Jersey City, Asheville, NC, Philadelphia, Atlanta, Pittsburgh, Memphis, Washington DC and Orlando.

Here’s how it works: city representatives network with one another, with NRDC, and with local partner organizations to set goals, develop workplans, and identify regional strategies that help maximize their resources.

NRDC will work with each city to estimate their baseline food waste generation and rescue potential and to provide technical assistance on developing food waste strategies that help bolster their broader food systems, sustainability, and climate goals and share successful strategies for on-the-ground project implementation. 

NRDC, with support from The Rockefeller Foundation, released Food Matters reports that included that two-thirds of food thrown out at the residential level could have been eaten, and there is a substantial amount of surplus food throughout city sectors.

NRDC focused on preventing food from going to waste, rescue surplus food, and recycle food scraps, implementing Mayoral restaurant challenges, training health inspectors to advocate for food waste strategies, and deploying their Save the Food consumer education assets.

NRDC’s lead in collaboration between stakeholders is a proven success and a model for us all. We look forward to the continued roll-out of Food Matters throughout the country.