Home - Save More Than Food - Central Ohio Food Waste Initiative

Compost Pumpkins and Gourds

Did you know that more than a billion pounds of pumpkins are thrown away every year in the United States? All that organic material doesn’t need to go to a landfill, though. You can compost your autumn pumpkins or gourds in a backyard composter or drop them off at one of the many local community pumpkin drop-off sites.

Find a Drop-Off Site Near You

Get the Fresh Takes Guide To Reducing Food Waste

Fresh Takes has been sharing tips, tricks, videos, and recipes for saving money on groceries and reducing food waste. Now, all of those resources are available in an all-inclusive downloadable guide.

Get the Guide

Food Savings Recipes

Discover recipes for ever occasion that will save you time and money while reducing food waste.

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The Save More Than Food Mission

Food waste is the largest category of material coming into the Franklin County Sanitary Landfill, with nearly 1 million pounds arriving each day. This represents a waste of resources that would otherwise feed people or create compost that feeds soil. That’s why the Solid Waste Authority of Central Ohio created Save More Than Food- a hub of resources for residents, businesses, and schools to learn about how to prevent wasted food, donate what’s recoverable and compost what’s not.

Initiative's Recent Work Areas

Initiative in Action

2024 COFWI Partner Activities The Central Ohio Food Waste Initiative represents the hundreds of partners undertaking food waste prevention, donation, and composting across Franklin County. Read about how schools, business, communities and other partners making a dent on reducing organic waste in our community.

Partner Activities

Save More Than Food Toolkit This toolkit includes presentation slides, sample social media posts, logos, images, and other print collateral to help you share the campaign.

Toolkit

Food Donation Flyer The City of Columbus’ Department of Public Health teamed up with a local food rescue organization to develop a donation guide for businesses.

Donation Flyer

SWACO School Resources The Food Waste Curriculum for local schools has been developed in partnership with the Kroger Company and the World Wildlife Fund.

Food Waste Curriculum

Expanding Our Impact Across the Globe

Joining the Efforts of National and International Food Waste Leaders

The Central Ohio Food Waste Initiative has aligned goals and approaches with national and international leaders on food waste. We are keeping good company! Read about the work of our aligned organizations.

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.