Food Waste Prevention Week (April 1-7)
As we kick off Earth Month, SWACO is pleased to be participating in the national Food Waste Prevention Week, led by the Food Conservation Alliance with support from the Natural Resources Defense Council, ReFed and the World Wildlife Fund. Preventing food waste in central Ohio presents one of the best ways for our community to reduce its reliance on the landfill and create a greener, healthier and more equitable community for all.
Currently in central Ohio, nearly a million pounds of food waste arrives at the Franklin County landfill every single day. Diverting more of this material from the landfill and reaching our shared sustainability goals will take all of us working together on multiple fronts. To help, the Save More Than Food campaign will share various resources throughout Food Waste Prevention Week and invites residents, businesses, schools and others not yet involved to begin taking steps to prevent waste.
As a COFWI member, please consider participating in the following was:
- Register as a #FWPW partner here. It’s free and only take a moment to do.
- Share SWACO’s April 3rd Food Donation 101 webinar with food industry businesses in your community and encourage them to register and participate.
- Distribute this Food Waste Hero Scorecard with your social media followers, and encourage them to use it as a way to participate in the prevention fun.
Have a great Food Waste Prevention Week and thank you for your on-going partnership.
New Employee Alert
Meet Sara Gallaugher,
Food Waste Program Administrator
Sara Gallagher is a lifelong resident of central Ohio and is passionate about conservation and protecting our ecosystem. Sara serves on the Worthington Partnership Green Team and Board and for the past three years has served as the Watershed Coordinator for FLOW (Friends of the Lower Olentangy Watershed) with efforts to increase the overall health of the watershed through tree plantings, trash cleanups, invasive plant removals and volunteer engagement.
As a Food Waste Program Administrator for SWACO, Sara joins Jane Boehm in advancing SWACO’s work to capture and divert food scraps from the county landfill.
When asked recently about the new job, Sara shared, “I’m excited to join the team at SWACO to continue to work with Franklin County businesses, schools, and communities to find solutions to divert food waste from the landfill through preventing, rescuing and composting.”
Please join us in giving Sara a warm welcome to the team.
Initiative Updates
On November 3, 2023, the Central Ohio Food Waste Initiative (COFWI) reconvened bringing back together more than 50 partners from 32 organizations, businesses and government departments. These committed partners gathered to celebrate the many milestones and accomplishments since the development of the first Food Waste Action Plan in 2019.
Here are just a few of the accomplishments we took a moment to celebrate:
- Save More Than Food launches as an online digital hub for local information about food waste prevention, donation, and composting.
- Food rescue partners recovered and redistributed over 7.5 million pounds of food.
- Between 2019 and January 2024, food waste drop off programs in central Ohio communities diverted 3 million pounds of food scraps. As of March 2024, eleven communities now offer a drop off program to residents.
- Six communities have implemented customized and localized education campaigns using Save More Than Food resources to help residents prevent waste.
- The cities of Bexley (in 2019) and Upper Arlington (in early 2024) established city-wide curbside food waste collection programs.
- In collaboration with local school districts, SWACO developed 12 new classroom and administrative resources to help students build the connection between taking action to reduce food waste at school and the broader environmental, social, and economic benefits of their actions.
Major outcomes of the November event included partner input on the 2024 plan update, and the creation of work groups around food donation in schools, food donation in businesses, and curbside compost programs.
2024 Action Plan Update
In the coming weeks, SWACO wil distribute the 2024 Food Waste Action Plan Update. Stay tuned for a special communication sharing the Update in early May.
2024 COFWI Convening
For those wanting to learn more and engage, a virtual COFWI convening will be held in the Fall of 2024. Details will be forthcoming later this year.
Food Waste Projects to Watch
SWACO is awarding more than $155,000 to six central Ohio organizations as part of the 2024 Community Waste Reduction Grant (CWR Grant) program. Since 2016, SWACO has awarded more than a million dollars through the program to assist local public-sector and non-profit organizations with projects that address unique waste reduction, reuse, recycling, and composting needs and are projects which ultimately support SWACO’s mission to reduce reliance on the Franklin County Sanitary Landfill.
Today, Franklin County’s diversion rate stands at 54%, an all-time high for the Solid Waste District.
Hilliard City Schools received $28,000 to develop a Waste Reduction Roadmap for all 24 buildings in its school district. By the end of the year, the project team plans to have a comprehensive roadmap which lays out diversion opportunities, program specific cost analysis, return on investment, projected disposal savings, and a strategy for ongoing education for administrators, staff and students.
Another expected outcome is the development of a Food Waste Reduction Manual which captures best practices and costs associated with the implementation of a food waste recovery program so that schools in other districts can right size solutions and learn from the implementation of these activities in Hilliard.
We are fortunate that the Economic and Community Development Institute (ECDI) calls central Ohio home. As the leading SBA Microloan Intermediary in the country, ECDI is fiercely dedicated to assuring every entrepreneur – regardless of where they came from, where they live, their gender or race – has access to funding and the business mentoring services they need.
SWACO is pleased to be supplying them with $5,362.40 which will be used to pilot a one-year food waste composting program at the Food Fort.
ECDI’s Food Fort is a commercial kitchen used by over 50+ member food and beverage businesses, like Ajumama Korean Street Food Truck . This collaboration and pilot project will allow ECDI to assess the quantities and types of food scraps generated by the businesses using the Food Fort and will inform a long term strategy for recovering food scraps from this location as well as their other incubator kitchens.
To learn more about ECDI’s Food Incubation Services, click here.
Have an idea or project planned for 2025?
The application period for SWACO’s 2025 Community Waste Reduction Grant program will open in April 2024. Please visit this page to learn about eligibility criteria and download the application when it becomes available.
Information for Businesses
From Waste to Resources Webinars Series
SWACO’s webinars are designed to help businesses make a positive impact on the environment. During these short, interactive webinars, participants learn from experts, gain practical knowledge about recycling, and get equipped with the tools and information to help with incorporating sustainable practices into daily life.
Check out some of the webinar’s linked below that we’ll be attending in April:
April 3, 2024 – Food Donation 101 Webinar at Noon
Are you looking for a better way to handle excess food that is currently being thrown away? Join us for a free 30-minute webinar to learn about:
- Who is allowed to donate food
- Who you can donate food to
- Legal protections for donating
- Food safety rules you need to follow
- How to find a donation partner
- Q&A Session
This webinar is designed for business owners or employees of catering businesses, restaurants, retail food establishments, bakeries, or institutions that produce meals, like nursing homes or assisted living facilities. You won’t want to miss it! (Register here)
Food Donation: “But I Don’t Want to Get Sued!”
One of the biggest fears businesses have about donating food is liability. Food donation has been protected by the Good Samaritan Emerson Act for a long time and in 2023 protections for businesses were expanded. Check out the video below and hear from Chef Tom Colicchio, who breaks down liability protections for businesses.
If you still have questions or would like to request a copy of a previously recorded webinar, email us at foodwaste@swaco.org.
Donate Surplus Food
Businesses and nonprofits that donate or distribute donated food or grocery products
are well-protected by laws designed to provide immunity from liability related to food donations. Central Ohio is home to several food rescue organizations who can help your business donate excess food to individuals in our community who may be at risk of hunger or food insecurity. What are you waiting for? Start donating today.
Sell Surplus Food
We typically don’t promote individual businesses but the Too Good To Go app is too good not to share.
Too Good To Go enables restaurants to sell unsold food before the end of the day at a reduced cost to help businesses put surplus straight into the hands of customers.
Save food from the landfill and reduce losses to your business all at once!
