Save More Than Food - Central Ohio Food Waste Initiative

Hosting the Holiday? Get Help Preventing Waste.

From heaps of ham to piles of potatoes, more waste is generated during the holidays than any other time of year. That’s why SWACO has assembled tips, guides, and tools to help you prevent waste this holiday season.

Visit the Holiday Hub

Got Old Pumpkins? Compost Them!

Take your fall pumpkins to an easy compost drop-off site near you. We’ll handle the rest!

Find A Drop-off Near You

Start Preventing Food Waste at Home

There are so many proactive ways to reduce your food waste every day, like storage, canning, and composting. Visit our Prevention Hub for tons of great guides to get started!

Visit Prevention Hub

Get The New Food Storage Guide

Storing food properly saves you money and helps prevent food waste. Find out how you can keep eggs, dairy, fruits, and vegetables fresher for longer with our brand-new food storage guide.

Get The Guide

NBC Nightly News Features Save More Than Food

NBC shared Central Ohio’s food waste prevention success story nationwide on the Nightly News!

Watch Now

Start Your Composting Journey

Composting helps keep food waste out of the landfill, and it’s simpler than you think to begin turning your food scraps into soil! Whether you want to start a compost bin in your backyard or find a food waste drop-off near you, we make it easy.

Get Started

From The New York Times: How Central Ohio Got People to Eat Their Leftovers

From food waste drop-off locations to share tables at local schools, the food waste reduction efforts in central Ohio have been recognized on a national level!

Read the Article

Did you know? Every year, the average family of four wastes $2,000 on food that is purchased but never eaten.

Eat Your Leftovers - Prevent Waste and Save Money!

Find easy ways to spice up last night's dinner leftovers and make your produce last longer.

Find Out How

Did you know? Each resident in Central Ohio wastes more than 30 gallons of water a year on food that is produced but never eaten.

Making a Difference Starts with Knowing the Facts

In Central Ohio, about 15% of material entering the landfill is food. Across the nation, as much as 40% of food is wasted. Learn about food waste in Central Ohio and the money, environmental resources, and opportunity to feed hungry neighbors that are lost when food is wasted.

Know the Issue

Did you know? For every meal missed by struggling neighbors in our community, three meals are sent to the landfill.

Take Action by Reducing Your Food Waste

Each of us has an important part to play in reaching 50% food waste reduction in Central Ohio. Get the information and tools that you need to take action at home, at school, at work, and in food businesses.

Make a Difference

As Featured On

We Can Make a Difference

Thank you for joining SWACO and the Central Ohio Food Waste Initiative in keeping food out of the landfill and reclaiming it to be a resource for our community. With your help, we can cut Central Ohio food waste in half by 2030.

Get Involved

Learn What You Can Do to Help Reduce Food Waste

At Home For each Franklin County resident, 5 pounds of food are landfilled each week. Learn how you can help.

At Home

At Work From office compost, to zero waste catering and events, there are many small actions that workplaces can take to reduce food waste. Learn what you can do and get started.

At Work

At School Our schools can lead the way in teaching our youngest community members about reducing food waste. Find out how.

At School

Food Businesses As a food business, you work with food every day. Find out how you can save money and environmental resources while providing meals for your community by reducing food waste.

Food Businesses

Did you know? Save More Than Food was developed by 150+ partners in the Central Ohio Food Waste Initiative who worked together to provide Central Ohio with tools to reduce food waste.

Make a Difference Central Ohio is Taking Action to Reduce Food Waste

Central Ohio landfills nearly 1 million pounds of food waste every single day. That’s why leaders from across Franklin County came together in 2019 to form the Central Ohio Food Waste Initiative. Working together, over 150 partners in the initiative are reclaiming lost resources on a path to cutting Central Ohio food waste in half by 2030. Learn more about the Central Ohio Food Waste Initiative and their 20-point action plan:

The Initiative The Action Plan

Food Waste in Central Ohio

Start Your Food Waste Reduction Journey With Save More Than Food

Take the Quiz: Take the “Save More Than Food” quiz to test your knowledge of food waste and how you can make a difference.

Take The Quiz

Share the Campaign Help to spread the food waste reduction message with Save More Than Food social media posts, flyers, presentation slides, and much more.

Share the Campaign

Make a Difference Find out what you can do at home, at work, at school, and in food businesses to reduce food waste.

Make a Difference

Did you know? Each Central Ohio resident wastes over 30 gallons of water a year that was used to grow food that is thrown away.

Spread the Word Join the Fight Against Food Waste

We want you on our team! Use Save More Than Food communications tools to engage your family, workplace, schools, and community in reducing food waste.

Share the Campaign

Did you know? Every Central Ohio resident wastes about $375 a year on food that's thrown away.

Test Your Knowledge Take the Quiz. Make a Difference.

Reducing food waste starts with a better understanding of the issues we face. Take our "Save More Than Food" quiz and test your food waste knowledge.

Take The Quiz