Food Recovery Efforts Lay of the Land Recommendations Next Steps

7/28/2019 Food Recovery Efforts Lay of the Land Recommendations Next Steps

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Food Recovery Efforts: Lay of the Land,

Recommendations and next steps for the Austin Areacompiled by the Food Salvage and Surplus Working Group of the Austin/Travis County

Sustainable Food Policy Board

Lead Authors: Brandi Clark Burton, Allen Schroeder, Mark McKim

PROTOCOL: You are welcome to add to this document. You can rearrange but please

do not delete anything. We might be switching to Forums on Austin EcoNetwork to keep

building content, but for now add in your resources and ideas to this document. Always

check the top of the document for the latest protocol instructions. Thanks and welcome

to our sandbox!

Table of Contents:

Top Goals

Context & Lay of the Land

Context, The Food Waste Problem, Environmental Impacts of Food Waste

Costs and benefits of donating food and composting (new section)

Policies to learn & take inspiration from

Resources for Food Donors

Digital Technologies Supporting Food Recovery

Proposed Next Action Steps

Additional to do Items

Additional Ideas for Preventing Waste

Current Working Programs:

Food surplus to people - National/ Examples from other Cities

Restaurant, grocery or other food establishment donations of Food Surplus

to People - Austin

Farm & Garden grown Food Surplus to People - Austin

Food Salvage to Animals - Austin area

Food/Oil for BioFuel - Austin

Food Salvage to Compost - Austin

Accomplishments

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Appendix A - Legal Protections

Appendix B- The Wheatsville Experience (by Allen Schroeder)

Appendix C - Questions for LA re: Food Donation Ordinance

Appendix D - Key Players, Allies and Stakeholders, Programs to coordinate and align with

Appendix E - Language of LA Ordinance

Top Goals

Goal 1: City of Austin Travis County and surrounding communities achieve universal awarenessand complete application of the EPA/USDA/US Composting Councils Food Recovery Hierarchy

http://www.epa.gov/osw/conserve/materials/organics/food/fd-gener.htm

Goal 2: Concurrently help the city achieve their goal ofZero Food Waste to landfills or in-sink

food disposals.http://www.austintexas.gov/department/policies-ordinances

Context & Lay of the landContext

Stopping the flow of food waste to the landfill and diverting it to be used to its maximum

benefit is a Social Justice issue (poverty and hunger) as well as an Environmental

issue (methane and lost soil fertility) as well as an Economics issue (waste hauling cost,

bottom line).

The Food Waste Problem

The amount of food wasted in the United States is staggering. Forty percent of the

foodAmericans have available to them (from farm to table) goes uneaten, according

to a report released this week (3rd week august 2012) by the Natural Resources

Defense Council.http://www.nrdc.org/food/files/wasted-food-IP.pdf Most of this

nutrient-rich uneaten food ends up rotting in landfills. The article cites a study published

by the Department of Agriculture about food loss in 2008 the most recent year forwhich a full analysis has been done states that $165.6 billion in food was wasted that

year by food retailers and consumers. The study goes on to say that $390 worth of food

per person was wasted in the United States in 2008.

In the U.S. in 2010, more than 34 million tons of food waste was generated, more than

any other material category but paper. Food waste accounted for almost 14 percent of

the total municipal solid waste stream, less than three percent of which was

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recovered and recycled. The rest 33 million tons was thrown away, making food

waste the single largest component of MSW reaching landfills and incinerators.

http://.epa.gov/osw/conserve/materials/organics/food

A study commissioned last year by the U.N. Food and Agriculture Organization estimated

that around the world, 1.3 billion metric tons of food go to waste annuallyin the world.

That's 1/3 of all food produced for humans. http://www.thinkeatsave.org/ The basic principle that applies is Food Waste is Still Food. Food for humans, animals

or microbes in compost.

Environmental Impact of Food Waste

In the dumpsters and in the landfill food waste stinks and creates tons of harmful

methane gas, a potent greenhouse gas.

www.governing.com/topics/energy-env/Methane-from-Landfills.html

Environmentalists regularly advocate the prevention ofwasted water and energy, but

little attention is paid to the squandering offood, which uses plenty of both.

www.treehugger.com/...food/the-impact-of-food-waste-on-climate-change-and-just-about-everything-else.html

Uneaten food accounts for 25% of all fresh water used in the US, 4% of total US

oil consumption, $750 million/year to dispose of the food, and 31 million tons of

landfill waste.From: Fela, J. 2012. Waste not, want not. Frontiers in Ecology and the Environment, 10(2), pp 61.

City of Austin case studies show food scrap comprising from 10 to 30% of the waste

from several sizes and types of Austin-area restaurants.

Eureka report on the environmental impacts of composting and recycling. Great

methodology for calculating diversion impacts

http://www.eurekarecycling.org/pdfs/Composting_Recycling_GreenhouseGases.pdf

Food Recovery 101 Food Waste http://www.epa.gov/epawaste/conserve/materials/organics/food/index.htm

The EPA has a clear handout called Putting Surplus to Good Use:

http://www.epa.gov/wastes/conserve/pubs/food-guide.pdf

The EPA has issued a Food Recovery Challenge that is tracked through WasteWise

http://www.epa.gov/foodrecoverychallenge/. How to sign up is here:

http://www.epa.gov/foodrecoverychallenge/joinnow.htm

In support of the Food Recovery Challenge, and to help spread food recovery efforts, the

EPA is hosting a free Sustainable Food Management Webinar Series:

http://yosemite.epa.gov/R10/ECOCOMM.NSF/climate+change/sustainablefoodwebinars

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http://www.google.com/url?q=http%3A%2F%2Fyosemite.epa.gov%2FR10%2FECOCOMM.NSF%2Fclimate%2Bchange%2Fsustainablefoodwebinars&sa=D&sntz=1&usg=AFQjCNEfOyyyBfLpoXccYOYKNMJmS4vVDwhttp://www.google.com/url?q=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.epa.gov%2Ffoodrecoverychallenge%2Fjoinnow.htm&sa=D&sntz=1&usg=AFQjCNGWIJAcsvw3aoM0Q6v6fDV4WgMxjAhttp://www.google.com/url?q=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.epa.gov%2Ffoodrecoverychallenge%2F&sa=D&sntz=1&usg=AFQjCNECAq96A-zSNPYZgVufoXHKKMJ02ghttp://www.google.com/url?q=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.epa.gov%2Fwastes%2Fconserve%2Fpubs%2Ffood-guide.pdf&sa=D&sntz=1&usg=AFQjCNG47LYyje2ch3QPJ3VgQiNFpKBybwhttp://www.google.com/url?q=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.epa.gov%2Fepawaste%2Fconserve%2Fmaterials%2Forganics%2Ffood%2Findex.htm&sa=D&sntz=1&usg=AFQjCNGRKxoxdGQRlICQ3COZ43ZiEE_s_Ahttp://www.google.com/url?q=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.eurekarecycling.org%2Fpdfs%2FComposting_Recycling_GreenhouseGases.pdf&sa=D&sntz=1&usg=AFQjCNHgn988ZOpM7CqfkyUmNPnv-TV_1Ahttp://www.google.com/url?q=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.treehugger.com%2Fgreen-food%2Fthe&sa=D&sntz=1&usg=AFQjCNGF0orApSOTIPIjUvD3sqDk3hcc8whttp://www.google.com/url?q=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.governing.com%2Ftopics%2Fenergy-env%2FMethane-from-Landfills.html&sa=D&sntz=1&usg=AFQjCNGkHckEHwd7b6AuKOkcnZaPmk_iIwhttp://www.google.com/url?q=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.thinkeatsave.org%2F&sa=D&sntz=1&usg=AFQjCNEoLTv9dogLE6FsqVF8aynoKQAS6g


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http://www.epa.gov/osw/conserve/materials/organics/food/fd-gener.htm

The USDA and EPA have a Food Recovery Hierarchy that explains, when it comes to

dealing with food waste:

first - look at source reduction ie: dont overproduce and adjust serving size or

serviceware second - feed humans the surplus food,

third - feed animals the food scraps,

fourth - industrial uses (especially oil) and

fifth - composting food waste.

Only after all of those options have been exploited should any excess go to a

landfill or incinerator (which is contrary to Austins Zero Waste Plan.

There is a need and an opportunity to help broaden the consciousness and practices

of food businesses and the general public about food recovery. Some businesses

donate surplus food to people, but send the rest of the food waste to landfills giving no

consideration to feeding animals or to composting. Some businesses compost but haveno program to connect surplus food with humans or animals. There is very limited

attention on redirecting food waste for animals.

Members of our group have advised that the word Diversion be used throughout the

Austin Resource Recovery Zero Waste Master Plan rather than just recycling and

composting. This opens the door for programs to direct food to humans, animals,

industrial uses as well.

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Preventing Food Waste

Waste Reduction

http://www.epa.gov/wastes/conserve/foodwaste/index.htm

http://www.thinkeatsave.org/index.php/be-informed/tips-production-retail

USDA Gleaning Toolkit http://www.usda.gov/documents/usda_gleaning_toolkit.pdf EPA Webinar: Preventing Food Waste with Source Reduction: Lessons Learned and

Best Management Practices featuring Andrew Shakman, Co-Founder and President of

LeanPath as well as Scott Meyer and Meagan Jones from the division of housing and

food service (DHFS) at the University of Texas at Austin.

http://yosemite.epa.gov/r10/ECOCOMM.NSF/Climate+Change/sustainablefood-webinar-

061412

Zero Waste Zones - parrtnership with National Restaurant Association to go Zero Waste

http://www.zerowastezones.org/About

Green Restaurant Associationhttp://www.dinegreen.com/

Conserve program of the National Restaurant Associationhttp://conserve.restaurant.org/

We hate to wastehttp://www.wehatetowaste.com/

Feeding People

Recent studies show 25.7% of Texas children live in poverty.

http://www.austinfoodbank.org/hunger-is-unacceptable/facts.html

There are more than 300 human service agencies that distribute food to people in

Central Texas.

Food donors have legal protection to donate surplus prepared and unspoiled food via

the Federal 1996 Emerson Good Samaritan Act

http://www.gpo.gov/fdsys/pkg/PLAW-104publ210/pdf/PLAW-104publ210.pdf(which was

preceded by the Texas Good Faith Donor Act in 1981) See Appendix 1 for full text of both.

There is extremely low awareness of the Good Samaritan Act.

Feeding Farm Animals

Farmers are being hurt financially by the drought and the downturn in the economy

http://www.usda.gov/wps/portal/usda/usdahome?navid=DISASTER_ASSISTANCE

Note: TX State Law passed in 2001 that makes feeding animal products to pigs

illegal. www.tahc.state.tx.us/animal_health/swine/swine_feeding_law.pdf

There are local farmers that are very interested in supplementing their animals feed with

food scraps

Composting

On October 9, 2012 the National Restaurant Association (NRA) and the US Composting

Council (USCC) announced their partnership to raise awareness about food waste

diversion, composting education, and other sustainable activities for the benefit of

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restaurant operators of all sizes nationwide.

The Texas Commission on Environmental Quality offers this guidance regarding what

type of composting operations require regulation.

http://www.tceq.texas.gov/permitting/waste_permits/msw_permits/MSW_amIregulatedco

mposting.html

The City of Austins Resource Recovery Department has organized and is carrying out arestaurant recycling Diversion and composting pilot program. It is being

implemented by Ecology Action and Organics By Gosh with an assortment of 12 Austin

restaurants. They are looking at the opportunities and the barriers to integrating recycling

and composting. The 6-month pilot was extended to a year and will wrap up at the end of

September 2012. (This should all be in the past tense and there could be a link to the

powerpoint shown to the Zero Waste Advisory Commission.)

City of Austins Universal Recycling Ordinance will phase in starting October 1, 2012

over the next five years. It is possible that City Council may amend the URO to require

large food businesses to divert compostable materials beginning October 1, 2016 with

smaller food businesses affected in 2017. The members of this working group hope thishappens sooner. We also wish for curbside composting by 2014.

The COA encourages home composting with their composter rebate program.

http://www.austintexas.gov/department/compost and the TCEQ offers this guidance:

http://www.tceq.texas.gov/publications/gi/gi-036.html/view

We aim to get out in front of the 2016, 2017 commercial composting requirements and

educate food businesses about the full range of diversion options available to

them.

Costs and benefits of donating food and composting (new section) Tax benefits to corporations that make donations to nonprofit organizations.

For tax purposes a food business may deduct the Cost of food and Direct Labor as well as

gross profit, (Not to exceed twice cost.)

Costs of training, bins, and service for composting and/or

packaging/storing/transportation for food donation

Policies to learn & take inspiration from City of Los AngelesFood Rescue ordinance - Requires the city to donate surplus

food from its facilities and events. Read more at LA City Surplus Food Donation Website:

http://helpfeedla.org/index.php

The L.A. Food Policy Councils Food Security & Nutrition Working Group supports

the City of Los Angeles and the L.A. Unified School District in the implementation

of the Food Rescue Ordinance. They educate local businesses and emergency

food providers on how to participate in surplus food programs. Awesome website

http://goodfoodla.org/catalyze_group4.php

Hunger Action LA helps:

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Encourage food businesses to donate.

Educate food businesses on the laws that protect them.

Facilitate connections between food businesses and local charities who

can receive donated food.

L. A. Waste Reduction Assistance Program -

http://www.calrecycle.ca.gov/Organics/Food/

Massachusetts Banning Commercial Food Waste from landfills:

State environmental officials arepreparingto ban hospitals, universities, hotels, large

restaurants, and other big businesses and institutions in Massachusetts from discarding

food waste in the trash beginning in 2014, a measure that in coming years they hope to

extend to homes as well.

Officials said the proposed rules, designed to save space in landfills and reduce

emissions of gases that trap heat in the atmosphere, will make Massachusetts the first

state with such a comprehensive prohibition on commercial food waste.

Their immediate goal is to divert a third of the nearly 1.4 million tons of organic waste

produced every year in Massachusetts from landfills by the end of the decade. Instead, it

would go to composting sites and a new generation of specially designed plants that

convert waste into energy, heat, and fertilizer.

State officials said they want to begin diverting household waste to the new plants by the

end of the decade.

http://bostonglobe.com/lifestyle/health-wellness/2012/05/03/state-propose-banning-com

mercial-food-waste-from-landfills/uXVV6DXZXbf0vW0WfcHsQN/story.html

The European Parliament's Agriculture Commission has resolved to slash food

waste by 50% by 2025, and declared 2014 "European Year Against Food Waste" .From:

Fela, J. 2012. Waste not, want not. Frontiers in Ecology and the Environment, 10(2), pp 61.

North Carolina Office of Waste Reduction

Waste Reduction Grant Program, targets agencies that divert prepared and perishable

foods from disposal facilities.

Waste Reduction Awards Program in California - for years it recognized businesses

for decreasing their waste stream and maximizing diversion.

http://www.calrecycle.ca.gov/WRAP/

Resources for Food Donors

Training for Food Safety Transporters

http://www.harvestsupportnetwork.org/trainingresources.html

National Restaurant Associations ConSERVE program: http://conserve.restaurant.org/

Feed People, Not Landfills

http://www.epa.gov/wastes/conserve/materials/organics/food/fd-donate.htm

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http://www.google.com/url?q=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.epa.gov%2Fwastes%2Fconserve%2Fmaterials%2Forganics%2Ffood%2Ffd-donate.htm&sa=D&sntz=1&usg=AFQjCNEtaeOy07-HJ_Gi90qAv5Ahf8--BQhttp://www.google.com/url?q=http%3A%2F%2Fconserve.restaurant.org%2F&sa=D&sntz=1&usg=AFQjCNGuInlB3wsdo-1PT18R06CINtDrfwhttp://www.google.com/url?q=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.harvestsupportnetwork.org%2Ftrainingresources.html&sa=D&sntz=1&usg=AFQjCNG0MT_nuip3mWWA4k5Gz3ksd0Hynghttp://www.google.com/url?q=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.calrecycle.ca.gov%2FWRAP%2F&sa=D&sntz=1&usg=AFQjCNFHMPdpSOXWdRUEl0RtabimZRnx4whttp://www.google.com/url?q=http%3A%2F%2Fbostonglobe.com%2Flifestyle%2Fhealth-wellness%2F2012%2F05%2F03%2Fstate-propose-banning-commercial-food-waste-from-landfills%2FuXVV6DXZXbf0vW0WfcHsQN%2Fstory.html&sa=D&sntz=1&usg=AFQjCNGZumAdDwJgqAwSgNmoewH1o0cpbAhttp://www.google.com/url?q=http%3A%2F%2Fbostonglobe.com%2Flifestyle%2Fhealth-wellness%2F2012%2F05%2F03%2Fstate-propose-banning-commercial-food-waste-from-landfills%2FuXVV6DXZXbf0vW0WfcHsQN%2Fstory.html&sa=D&sntz=1&usg=AFQjCNGZumAdDwJgqAwSgNmoewH1o0cpbA


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Digital technologies supporting food recovery:

Zero Percent - Zero Percent is a system designed to help restaurants move outsurplus, edible food by posting donations on our online food donations

marketplace. The system automatically alerts volunteers at nearby soup kitchensand shelters, through text and email, until it can find one volunteer who accepts to

pick up the donation. http://www.zeropercent.us/

Feeding Forward - Our online network and mobile app will streamline critical

connections between those with excess healthy food (e.g., restaurants, markets,

businesses) and those in need (e.g., food banks, homeless shelters, human service

organizations). This tool will enable rapid redistribution of excess food. Ultimately, we aim

to abolish food deserts and challenge the structural causes of hunger and

malnourishment. http://www.feedingforward.com/

Flash Food Recovery - FlashFood is building a mobile app that offers an easy way for

restaurants, caterers, grocers, or any type of food service business that has extra,

un-served[1] food at the end of operating hours to donate it rather than throw it away.

http://flashfoodrecovery.com/

The Food Rescue Bot (Boulder Food Rescue) - The robot is a web-application for

scheduling, routing, and tracking just-in-time food rescue. It was developed by

volunteers ofBoulder Food Rescue, an all volunteer non-profit organization located in

Boulder, Colorado. Although originally used exclusively by Boulder Food Rescue, the

robot is now used by multiple organizations around the world, fighting malnutrition

and food waste with love, community, and bicycles.

http://alpha.boulderfoodrescue.org/volunteers/sign_in Food Hub - FoodHub is a dynamic marketplace and online directory that makes it

easy and efficient for professional food buyers and sellers to research, connect, and

do business. Its easy to use and a great place to meet and do business over food.

http://food-hub.org/pages/about

Food Donation Connection - Food Donation Connection manages food donation

programs for food service companies interested in donating food. The donating

process is based on donors receiving economic benefit through tax savings in

addition to involvement with community and corporate goodwill. Donors are linked

to those in need through existing non-profit hunger relief organizations. Food

Donation Connection administers these programs through the use of an efficient

communication and reporting network. Program responsibilities include linking

donor locations with food rescue groups or those feeding the needy, assisting in the

development of product quality and handling standards, tax valuation, donation

reporting and ongoing monitoring and follow-up to ensure program implementation

and growth. http://www.foodtodonate.com/Default.aspx

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http://www.google.com/url?q=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.foodtodonate.com%2FDefault.aspx&sa=D&sntz=1&usg=AFQjCNHAyLOZhqYGtgvUf-V6oClcsqzbDghttp://www.google.com/url?q=http%3A%2F%2Ffood-hub.org%2Fpages%2Fabout&sa=D&sntz=1&usg=AFQjCNH2Oda_5KYTrFlbasz-isaV3sW8SAhttp://www.google.com/url?q=http%3A%2F%2Falpha.boulderfoodrescue.org%2Fvolunteers%2Fsign_in&sa=D&sntz=1&usg=AFQjCNHSQsOcE4z1XuRg1vyZsvDuHL5XxQhttp://www.google.com/url?q=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.boulderfoodrescue.org%2F&sa=D&sntz=1&usg=AFQjCNE6Dy0cJSlRsJCte48dE1v6MVLlFwhttp://www.google.com/url?q=http%3A%2F%2Fflashfoodrecovery.com%2F&sa=D&sntz=1&usg=AFQjCNFWnGpi45SpJcphDmC7n9VP2ttmbghttp://www.google.com/url?q=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.feedingforward.com%2F&sa=D&sntz=1&usg=AFQjCNG7j0TO5CECpADQhu99EUvVyBNOywhttp://www.google.com/url?q=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.feedingforward.com%2F&sa=D&sntz=1&usg=AFQjCNG7j0TO5CECpADQhu99EUvVyBNOyw


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Proposed Next Action Steps Apply to ARR for mini grant to help put together outreach materials and pilot

them Get a grant researcher to develop a list of options for funding various stages of

this - research, outreach & education.

Apply for grants

Research other food runner programs and get copies of their outreach materials

to help us develop our own.

Compile forms/contracts used by select food donors and recipients to educate donors

about liability and how to track the value of their donation (i.e. Keep Austin Fed, CAFB,

Meals on Wheels).

Develop outreach materials for educating food businesses about the Food Recovery

Hierarchy and the benefits of applying that hierarchy, and resources to take action.

Pilot using those outreach materials with 10 different kinds of food businesses (fast

food chain, local casual, national casual, local fine dining, grocery store,

convenience store, corporate cafeteria, caterer, event producer, farmers market

vendor)

Incorporate feedback from the round of pilot outreach into outreach materials

Explore the possibility of $ from HHS to help with portion control education

Find out which chain businesses are participating in Food Donation Connection.

Is there any local activity?

Promote a L.A.-style ordinance requiring the donation of leftover food from City andCounty sponsored events and facilities. http://helpfeedla.org/index.php(see below

Publicize the findings of the Austin Resource Recovery Pilot Program with 12

restaurants

Extend outreach and education programs to all food businesses in Central Texas,

to explain

a) the Food Recovery Hierarchy and how they can participate through waste

prevention and various forms of diversion,

b) Legal protection offered by the Good Samaritan Act

c) Tax deductions

d) the PR benefits of participating in food recovery. Continue and expand data collection in regards to the size and distribution of the market

for a surplus food runner effort, a food waste-to-farm animal effort and enhancedcomposting programs.

Administer the survey we created for food businesses and compile results.

Re-survey farmers. Increase the participation from 10 to at least 20 and analyze

results.

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Collaborate with Eco Campaigns - Create or promote a branded program that

addresses the issue of food waste/hunger.

Continue participating in meetings sponsored by the Universal Recycling Ordinance

Group and relevant Zero Waste Advisory Commission meetings to help learn about and

shape rules as they pertain to food waste/composting and identify salvage opportunities.

Further identify and categorize food waste destinations.

Additional to do items

Extract the useful parts of American Wasteland

Offer assistance with TCEQ interface, permitting and operations and management, if

any

Help create the market by using the Universal Recycling Ordinance to require food

diversion. (not just recycling and compost)

Adopt a resolution supporting the hiring of a national food waste czar (like there was from

1996-2000)

Get a tax expert to evaluate what is current and true about tax benefits of food donations.Is it 1.5 times cost? See http://www.foodtodonate.com/Fdcmain/TaxBenefits.aspx for

starters (asked Todd Wong)

Follow up with Jim Walker re: UT Food Recovery Network

Grocery store ideas

seconds bins for produce and if not readily adopted, start a consumer campaign

give food to employees rather than trash it. Examples, staff bins in Wheatsville

and Staff dinners at Gusto

Greater Austin Restaurant Association - Skeeter Miller (County Line & Canoli

Joe's), Daryl (list from Aiden Cohen)

Eddie Berrnal - (Gusto, Blue Star, Santa Ritas) Encourage the Business Assistance Division of Austin Resource Recovery, (formerly

Waste Reduction Assistance Program - WRAP) to systematically analyze the pre and

post-consumer food waste of restaurants, grocery stores and other food businesses so

they can more strategically order, prepare and serve food, aiming to prevent waste.

Add FOOD to the guide "What do I do with..." http://austintexas.gov/what-do-i-do/f,

Include Food Recovery Hierarchy info as well as options for getting food to humans,

animals, biofuel producers and composters.

Consult with Greenmap.org to distinguish food available, or food destination

Get the USBCSD to expand its food-related Byproduct synergy efforts which "[matches]

under-valued waste or by-product streams from one facility with potential users atanother facility to create new revenues or savings with potential social and environmental

benefits." ie "Food Waste for Anaerobic Digestion. Two companies have identified a BPS

opportunity involving the use of food waste from Company A as an alternative feedstock

for Company Bs anaerobic digestion process. The outputs of anaerobic digestion are

soil amendment and biogas which is used for electricity generation. The resulting soil

amendment is used as an alternative to synthetic fertilizer and biogas displaces the need

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for fossil fuels for energy. Ordinarily, the food waste would be disposed in a sanitary

landfill.

Study the Conserve Program of National Restaurant Association)

http://conserve.restaurant.org/

Get the City's Food Handler Course to include information about the Good Samaritan Act

See that all food service permit holders know about the Good Samaritan Act Educate the general public about strategies to reduce their food waste, to connect

their leftovers from their events with people, animals, and composting services. Also

encourage home composting. To ask for half portions at restaurants. The Love Food

Hate Waste site has excellent advice for how to store many different foods and fun recipe

tools to help use up specific foods. They also have a portion plannerto help you cook just

the right amount. NRDCs new food waste fact sheet [PDF] has tips on what to think

about when buying and storing food. And theres a wealth of knowledge out there in the

form of friends, family, and cookbooks. I like The Use-It-Up CookbookorThe Frugal

Foodie.

Support the development of efficient and widespread intermediary systems (for profitand non-profit) to expand food recovery and redistribution.

Create partnerships with agencies like Meals on Wheels, SFC and other similar groups

to help with food processing and volunteer logistics management

Other ideas for Preventing Waste Share the UT research about portion sizes and serving trays affecting the volume of food

waste.

Halfsies

Make take-home cool

Make sharing meals cool

Encourage family-style serving

Wheatsvilles policies for dealing with food surplus (See Appendix B)

Make end-of event procedures include having to-go containers to send away

surplus/leftovers

Make giving food to employees one of the benefits of working there

Promote seconds bins (do research on opportunity-cost payoff level)

http://www.thinkeatsave.org/index.php/take-action/find-out-how

Current Working Programs

Austin and Texas Programs directing Farm & Garden grown Food Surplus

to People Food is Free Project (PD)http://foodisfreeproject.org/ - plants food gardens in peoples

front yards with the expectation that anyone can harvest it.

The Gleaning Network of Texas - The Gleaning Network of Texas is a nonprofit,

grassroots organization whose goal is to use our states existing surplus fresh produce

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http://www.google.com/url?q=http%3A%2F%2Ffoodisfreeproject.org%2F&sa=D&sntz=1&usg=AFQjCNHsXtnv-tVJ7XF6r7IN25-i7KIbKwhttp://www.google.com/url?q=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.thinkeatsave.org%2Findex.php%2Ftake-action%2Ffind-out-how&sa=D&sntz=1&usg=AFQjCNHAvu8s-3X_Cn3Fwe4ViLcrUA-X1Ahttp://www.google.com/url?q=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.powells.com%2Fbiblio%2F9781573443630%3F%26PID%3D25450&sa=D&sntz=1&usg=AFQjCNELkLgY8o_FHlRfKFELow1U5Ymqkwhttp://www.google.com/url?q=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.powells.com%2Fbiblio%2F9781573443630%3F%26PID%3D25450&sa=D&sntz=1&usg=AFQjCNELkLgY8o_FHlRfKFELow1U5Ymqkwhttp://www.google.com/url?q=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.powells.com%2Fbiblio%2F9781573443630%3F%26PID%3D25450&sa=D&sntz=1&usg=AFQjCNELkLgY8o_FHlRfKFELow1U5Ymqkwhttp://www.google.com/url?q=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.powells.com%2Fbiblio%2F9781581823660%3F%26PID%3D25450&sa=D&sntz=1&usg=AFQjCNHKulwEG4cE4VMkSsRTmtzc54QBxQhttp://www.google.com/url?q=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.powells.com%2Fbiblio%2F9781581823660%3F%26PID%3D25450&sa=D&sntz=1&usg=AFQjCNHKulwEG4cE4VMkSsRTmtzc54QBxQhttp://www.google.com/url?q=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.nrdc.org%2Fliving%2Featingwell%2Ffiles%2Ffoodwaste_2pgr.pdf&sa=D&sntz=1&usg=AFQjCNER1lZd4sQ1AKmMxUuZZcjcs9FfbAhttp://www.google.com/url?q=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.nrdc.org%2Fliving%2Featingwell%2Ffiles%2Ffoodwaste_2pgr.pdf&sa=D&sntz=1&usg=AFQjCNER1lZd4sQ1AKmMxUuZZcjcs9FfbAhttp://www.google.com/url?q=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.lovefoodhatewaste.com%2Fperfect_portions&sa=D&sntz=1&usg=AFQjCNGORnzOk6ZNL7fCkr7Lj-jtqDbW8whttp://www.google.com/url?q=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.lovefoodhatewaste.com%2Fperfect_portions&sa=D&sntz=1&usg=AFQjCNGORnzOk6ZNL7fCkr7Lj-jtqDbW8whttp://www.google.com/url?q=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.lovefoodhatewaste.com%2Fstorage_and_tools&sa=D&sntz=1&usg=AFQjCNEtBkra-Nf9fl0Oh5qVoHYEPHB0uAhttp://www.google.com/url?q=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.lovefoodhatewaste.com%2Fstorage_and_tools&sa=D&sntz=1&usg=AFQjCNEtBkra-Nf9fl0Oh5qVoHYEPHB0uAhttp://www.google.com/url?q=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.lovefoodhatewaste.com%2Fstorage_and_tools&sa=D&sntz=1&usg=AFQjCNEtBkra-Nf9fl0Oh5qVoHYEPHB0uAhttp://www.google.com/url?q=http%3A%2F%2Fconserve.restaurant.org%2F&sa=D&sntz=1&usg=AFQjCNGuInlB3wsdo-1PT18R06CINtDrfw


12/27

resources to help alleviate hunger and improve nutrition for food-insecure Texans. The

Network brings together growers, volunteers, and service agencies to provide food for the

hungry from fruits and vegetables left in the field after the harvest and other unutilized

supplies. http://www.gleantexas.org/

Grow and Give Gardener Program managed by the Capital Area Food Bank of

Texas http://www.austinfoodbank.org/how-to-help/grow-and-give.html The Surplus Agricultural Grant Program (Texans Feeding Texans) offers growers an

incentive to donate fresh produce that would otherwise be left in the field, by offsetting a

donor's costs of harvesting and packaging surplus product and supplying the necessary

transportation. Created to facilitate the donation of surplus product to feed low-income

families across Texas. The program creates a direct link between Texas-based

commodity producers, processors, food banks emergency food providers, and

low-income families. Launched in March 2002. Since the programs inception, TFBN

members have distributed over 35 million pounds of fresh product throughout the state.

Texas Fresh Approach - TFBN also initiated a pilot project named Texas Fresh

Approach (TFA) with the Texas Department of Criminal Justice. From its origins inHouston, the statewide TFA initiative now provides hungry Texans with a wide array of

fresh vegetables planted and harvested by Texas inmates on surplus Texas Department

of Criminal Justice (TDCJ) farmland. In addition to planting and harvesting, inmates in

some areas also glean fields. The produce is transported to food banks for distribution to

charitable member agencies throughout the state of Texas. The program, the first of its

kind in the nation, maximizes the resources of the prison system and Texas food banks.

The result is a grand illustration of how the public and private sector can work

successfully together to solve the serious problem of hunger.

Spread the Harvest project of the Sustainable Food Centerensures that folks in the

Austin area who grow more than they can consume themselves share their abundancewith low income neighbors and food pantries. SFC measure the meal equivalents shared

to report back to their funders. This ensures that fresh produce that cant be eaten by a

Spread the Harvest gardener goes directly to another family or to a local food pantry

rather than to compost or to the landfill.

Urban Roots - (grows food and delivers) Teaches low-income youth how to be organic

farmers - Donates 40% of food to shelters. http://www.urbanrootsatx.org/

Food Surplus to People - Austin - restaurant, grocery or other food

establishment donationsTravis County contains around 130 hunger relief groups including organizations such as

churches, community centers, and social service organizations.

(PD = pick-up and deliver, RD = receive and distribute)

Angel House (PD,RD) Soup Kitchen and Baptist chapel, 908 E. Cesar Chavez, serves

food to about 300 people a day. Food is donated from all over the city.

http://www.angelhouse-abc.com/donate.htm

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http://www.google.com/url?q=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.angelhouse-abc.com%2Fdonate.htm&sa=D&sntz=1&usg=AFQjCNFU-PiaQpt4G-5y40Y-BbLW936hiwhttp://www.google.com/url?q=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.urbanrootsatx.org%2F&sa=D&sntz=1&usg=AFQjCNFSg-IKJwJmi_j2FFYffe4W_IqDmQhttp://www.google.com/url?q=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.austinfoodbank.org%2Fhow-to-help%2Fgrow-and-give.html&sa=D&sntz=1&usg=AFQjCNGDxbnnNeZbxaRuwqJNE3rWo_n6KQhttp://www.google.com/url?q=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.gleantexas.org%2F&sa=D&sntz=1&usg=AFQjCNHqmRw_FOmbutFXJLwXdR01gxTepg


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Austin Harvest was an affiliate of USA Harvest (historical) (PD) - Todd Wong

founder. Volunteer driven effort to get food surplus from restaurants to the needy.

Restaurants that were participating La Zona Rosa, Fuddruckers, Spaghetti Warehouse,

Chuys, Shady Grove, Hula Hut, Swedish Hill,

Blackland Neighborhood Center(RD) Receives the daily Wheatsville surplus and food

from Capital Area Food Bank. Itand other community centers serve as distribution pointsfor donated food, mostly from CAFB.

www.merchantcircle.com/directory/TX-Austin-78733/category/Community/Community.C

entershttp

Break it Down (PD)A recycling and compostable waste pick up company, for profit, also

provides the daily food surplus pick-up at Wheatsville Food COOP.

info@breakitdown,org

Capital Area Food Bank of Texas(RD) CAFB distributes food more than 300 Partner

Agencies across 21 Central Texas counties. Partner Agencies including soup kitchens,

pantries and shelters who then provide the food to hungry Central Texans.

A good web page to look at is:http://www.austinfoodbank.org/hunger-is-unacceptable/older-adult-hunger-in-central-texa

s.html

Caritas of Austin (RD) at 611 Neches Street. Offers free lunches, no questions asked

Monday through Saturday 11am 12:30. Also manages a food pantry for clients in crisis.

contact Tanya Greenough 512-479-4610

Casa Marianella (RD) on Gunter St close to 7th and Pleasant Valley accepts food

surplus to feed its residents.

Eastside Community Connection (RD) at 5810 Berkman Drive

Eternal Way (RD)(PD) The E.A.T. (Everybody Ate Today) Outreach. Volunteers pick up

day old bread, mostly from Central Market (other whole foods welcome) and distribute itto needy children, women and people in crisis situations.

http://eternalway.org/eat-outreach/ [email protected] or call 512-445-1080.

Food Not Bombs - provides free vegan meals twice a week.

http://www.facebook.com/pages/Austin-Food-Not-Bombs/116245255054883

Harvest Ministries (PD)The local affiliate of the national group Food Donation

Connection. Volunteers pick up from national chain restaurants and deliver to angel

House and others.

Hope Food Pantry (RD) at 4001 Speedway supported by the United Methodist Church.

gives out four days of food every week to 9 zip codes. Food mostly comes from the

Capital Area Food Bank, Whole Foods Market (bread) and Starbucks pastries.http://hopefoodpantryaustin.org/

Keep Austin Fed (PD)in collaboration with the Easter Seals of Central Texas this

volunteer driven organization collects food surplus from restaurants and stores to

redistribute to the needy. Keep Austin Fed is a group of volunteers working with Austin

charities to put food directly into the hands and mouths of our hungry Austin neighbors.

We gather healthy and consumable food from local food sources (restaurants, caterers,

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etc.) and distribute it in cooperation with the Easter Seals of Central Texas, an Austin, TX

501c3.

Supporters: Baguettes And Chocolate, Barn Door Grocery, Mandola's Italian,

Snap Kitchen, TacoDeli, The Upper Crust Bakery

Receiving agencies: Easter Seals of Central Texas, North Austin Foundation,

Posada Esperanza, Nubian Queen Lola's Cajun Soul Food, St. Louis King ofFrance Catholic Church, University Baptist Church

If you're interested in volunteering to pick up or drop off food, please contact

volunteer coordinator Joseph M. de Leon at [email protected] or

512-294-4584.

Manos de Cristos (RD) a community outreach center has a food pantry, stocked mostly

from the Capital Area Food Bank, but also get donations from 17 area Presbyterian

churches as well.

Meals on Wheels & More(RD) serves home-bound elderly. Their sources of food

include ___ ___ ___, they have a commercial kitchen that prepares ### meals for weeklydelivery by ## volunteers.

Micah 6 (RD)(PD) A collaborative effort between 6 downtown churches, supporting

people in need, including a food pantry, at 2203 San Antonio St.

Mobile Loaves and Fishes(RD) has served over 3 million meals and had 17000

volunteers. http://mlf.org/ (mtg. on Aug 23rd)

Salvation Army (RD) 501 E 8th St. Austin TX. 78701

http://www.salvationarmyaustin.org/?page_id=7

University of Texas - UT Director of Sustainability met with Food Services about

starting a proposed student-run Food Recovery Program a la Food Recovery Network.

Also receiving food and redistributing it:(RD)Austin Baptist Community Center,Austin Childrens Shelter, Childrens Advocacy Center, Church Food Pantry, Comfort

House, East St. Johns Service Center, Family Crisis Center, Hospice Austins

Christopher House, Kids @ the Crossroads, Latina Mami, Ministry of Challenge, Maggie

Johnson Retirement Center, Our Lady of Guadalupe Food Pantry, Push-Up Foundation

Male Unit, Salvation Army, Word of Life Bastrop Church.

Food surplus to people - National/ Examples from other Cities FoodRunners - http://www.foodrunners.org/about-foodrunners.aspdelivers 10 tons of feed

per week nearly all through volunteers. One driver with a refrigerated truck supplements.

Harvest Support Network - http://www.harvestsupportnetwork.org/HSN supports

non-profit food rescue agencies in ways that allow these organizations to focus their limited talents

and resources on their designated non-profit purposes. HSN provides several types of support:

Training and resources to support the transport of donated food,

Tools to support volunteer coordination, and

A networking platform for all those interested in advancing food rescue programs.

Gleaning in the National School Lunch Program -

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http://www.fns.usda.gov/FDD/gleaning/gleanman.PDF

Rock and Wrap It Up!, Inc. is a nonprofit that helps divert food waste from large music,

sporting, and political events as well as school cafeterias to feed the hungry.

http://www.epa.gov/wastes/conserve/materials/organics/food/success/rockin.htm

Food for Free (Cambridge) Bridging the gap between waste and want since 1981

Food For Free rescues fresh foodfood that might otherwise go to wasteanddistributes it within the local emergency food system where it can reach those in need.

Through a combination offood rescue, farming, and transportation services, they give

food programs year-round access to fresh fruits and vegetables, while theirdelivery

program brings food directly to isolated seniors and people with disabilities. Their

programs address not only short-term hunger, but obesity, diet-related disease, and

other long-term health effects of food insecurity and poor nutrition. In addition, food

rescuealso called salvage or gleaningreduces food waste. Last year FFFs produce

rescue program distributed 1,020,000 pounds of food, partnered with 78 food programs

in Boston, Cambridge, and Somerville, MA to help feed 25,000 people

http://www.foodforfree.org/ Bare Abundance - Dedicated to improving the dignity and quality of life of the hungry

and needy we serve. Their vision is to assure that no one goes hungry, no food is

wasted in our community, and no one is denied the opportunity or assistance to become

self-sufficient.BareAbundance is built on grassroots action and community support the

project links students directly to the Berkeley and Oakland communities. Essentially, we

will distribute excess consumable foods (including, but not limited to the following: fruits,

vegetables, cereals, and non-perishable same-day goods e.g. breads) from a network of

local restaurants and cafes, farmers markets, UCB cooperative houses, Greek housing,

local organic gardens, and small farms. This food will be afforded proper care by the

BareAbundance team who will then redistribute the food to local shelters and low-incomeareas. http://bareabundance.org/

Boulder Food Rescue www.boulderfoodresue.org A must see web site easy to

navigate. These folks are doing a fantastic job. Check it out.

DC Central Kitchen - DC Central Kitchens Food Recycling program recovers leftover

food and converts it into meals for hungry and at-risk neighbors. They now recycle more

than three tons of surplus products from major food service corporations each day. DC

CK has many other programs including meal distribution, healthy school food, culinary

job training for unemployed individuals, and a few others.

http://www.dccentralkitchen.org/

City Harvest Serving New York for 25 years. Over a million served every year.www.cityharvest.org

Farmer Food Share - North Carolina (Stationed in Chapel Hill NC serving region with 6

counties - 13 Farmers Markets) Provides fresh food to people at risk for hunger while

building healthy community food systems and enhancing community economic

development. Operate donation stations at farmers markets - collect donated food and

money to buy food). Includes a food program for kids. www.FarmerFoodShare.org

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Food Donation Connection - National Program that connects runners with national

chain and some local donors to recipient partners (Pizza Hut, KFC, Taco Bell, Long John

Silvers, A&W, NPC International, Olive Garden, Red Lobster, LongHorn Stakehouse, The

Capital Grille, Bahama Breeze, Seasons 52, the Cheescake Factory, Grand Lux Cafe,

Chiptle Mexican Grill, Famos Daves, Auntie Annes, Rock Bottom Breweries, Old

Chicago, Chop House, Cracker Barrel and Walnut Brewery) www.foodtodonate.com Food Finders (LA area) - Food Finders is a multi-regional food bank and food rescue

program headquartered in Signal Hill, CA. We pick up donated food from hundreds of

local grocery stores, bakeries, restaurants and produce markets and distribute it directly

to missions, shelters and social service agencies to feed the needy and impoverished.

Our volunteers and staff drivers pick up and deliver on a same-day basis. On average,

Food Finders helps provide 40,000 meals a day, reducing the amount of food insecurity

prevalent throughout Southern California. www.foodfinders.org

Food Recovery Network (currently on 4 campuses - Fighting Waste. Feeding People.

Trying to get more chapters open. Network of student groups that started at University of

Maryland dedicated to recovering the surplus food from the dining halls and sportsgames that would otherwise go to waste and donating it to homeless shelters in DC. We

have donated over 30,000 meals as of May 1, 2012. Reducing food waste and providing

for our neighbors makes our whole community stronger. It also helps the environment by

helping to close the loop on food waste, America's second largest waste stream. After

the success of the UMD chapter, FRN has launched a national movement on college

campuses and already has four chapters at schools across America.

http://www.foodrecoverynetwork.org/

Green Restaurant Association - The GRA is a national non-profit organization that

provides a convenient and effective way for restaurants, manufacturers, distributors, and

consumers to become more environmentally responsible. http://www.dinegreen.com/ New York City WasteLess Program - NYC has created a magnificent website with

information for reducing waste at home, at school, and at work. The site is very user

friendly and has information for all types of businesses and establishments. There is a

great page on how to reduce waste in a restaurant, manufacturing, office buildings, retail,

schools, and much more.

http://www.nyc.gov/html/nycwasteless/html/wasteless/wasteless_nyc.shtml

Resource Centera Chicago organization picks up edible food and delivers it to soup

kitchens and homeless shelters close by. 1-773-821-1351

[email protected]

Feeding America Network National has affiliate organizations around the country1-800-532-FOOD http://feedingamerica.org/

Society of St Andrew gleening Americas fields, feeding Americas hungry

14.2 million pounds of produce collected first half of 2012 = 42.5 million servings

http://www.endhunger.org/texas.htm

Timothy Jones (Food Waste Expert Univ. of Arizona) - http://uanews.org/node/10448

USA Harvest http://www.usaharvest.com/ 130 chapters around the country Our

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volunteers pick-up surplus food from restaurants, hospitals and food suppliers and

deliver it to missions, soup kitchens and people in need. It's a very simple and passionate

concept that people can really relate to: Moving food from people who have too much, to

those who have much too little!

WasteWise - WasteWise is a free, voluntary EPA program through which organizations

eliminate costly municipal solid waste and select industrial wastes, benefiting theirbottom line and the environment. WasteWise participants can join as partners,

endorsers, or both. WasteWise helps its participants meet goals to reduce and recycle

municipal solid waste and selected industrial wastes.

http://www.epa.gov/epawaste/conserve/smm/wastewise/index.htm

Angel Harvest (LA) - ANGEL HARVEST WAS an innovative non-profit food distribution

system that picked up good, un-served, perishable food from 3,900 events, caterers and

corporate cafeterias that everyday is delivering this free food to emergency feeding

programs throughout Los Angeles County. Trying to figure out what happened to them.

http://angelharvest.org/index.php

Read more about food rescue at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Food_rescue

Food Salvage to Animals - Austin TDS - As part of an expanded TDS food waste sorting and composting operation, TDS

will produce a certain amount of animal feed for use at its existing and planned game

ranching operations.

Microbial Earth & Break It Down - working on soldier fly/grub composting.

Donation of bones to animal shelters. Could be expanded.

http://www.statesman.com/news/local/barbecue-business-donates-rib-bones-to-dogs-at-2427108.html

The FS&S Working Group created a local farmer survey and got responses from 10,

with 6? being interested in receiving food scraps for their animals

Texas is one of many states that allows swill the English term for food waste

feeding to swine. There are 613 permitted waste food feeders in the state, although those

feeding bakery products and vegetables are exempt from the cooking requirement.

"But the ones that feed meat scraps have to cook the waste food at boiling temperature

for a minimum of 30 minutes," Lawhorn said.

Under the 1980 federal Swine Health Protection Act, at least one annual inspection is

required. Texas has taken a very stringent approach, requiring this state's feeders to be

inspected every 45 days by USDA APHIS veterinarians or animal health technicians,

Lawhorn said.During inspection, the temperature of the waste food in cooking containers is verified and

the facilities examined, said Rick Smathers, Texas Animal Health Inspection service

director of program records.

Texas also requires waste feeders to be re-permitted every two years. There currently

are 14 pending permits and five waste feeders that have been slow to re-permit,

Smathers said, adding that inspections still continue until re-permitting is complete or

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producers cease to feed waste food.

-from Safeguards against disease in place in Texas Agriculture

(http://lubbockonline.com/stories/042101/sta_042101102.shtml)

Food/Oil for BioFuel Jeff Thompson at Liquid Environmental Solutions

San Marcos Grease Company

Waste Cooking Oil Brokerhttp://www.wastecookingoilbroker.com/

DieselGreen Fuels http://dieselgreenfuels.com/

Food Salvage to Compost Central Texas currently has 3 commercial compost operators where food waste haulers

can drop offcollected food waste: Organics by Gosh 276-1211, J V Dirt 927-1977 and

TDS Compost Coalition collects coffee grounds and other food scraps from N/ Burnet

businesses for composting. Expanding.

Several individuals are putting forth their own individual efforts to glean from the waste

stream of people food, mostly day old bread and compostable materials.

City of Austins Universal Recycling Ordinance will phase in from October 1, 2012

through 2015 beginning with large offices and apartment complexes but has nothing to do

with food or other compostable materials. The City Council may amend the URO to

require large food businesses to divert compostable materials beginning October 1, 2016

with smaller food businesses affected in 2017. Curbside composting is coming 2014?

A restaurant recycling and composting pilot program has been organized by theCity and implemented by Ecology Action and Organics By Gosh with an assortment of

12 Austin restaurants They are looking at barriers and opportunities to integrate

recycling and composting. The 6-month pilot was extended to a year and will wrap up at

the end of September 2012. Note from TDS: the City structured this pilot program

to prevent TDS participation, even after TDS proposed an alternative structure so

that TDS could participate. Recent reports from participating restaurants suggest

the pilot program has been extremely problematic. This may be the desired

and/or engineered result in order for the City to justify taking over collection and

processing services.

A number of local restaurants, grocery stores, institutions, and other food serviceestablishments already contract for off-site composting with local vendors:

Break It Down picks up compostable food waste from approx 50 businesses.

They provide 1-6 30-gallon blue barrels with frequent pick up. (~3 times a week)

Compost Coalition Focusing first on coffee grounds (an excellent soil

amendment) volunteers visit coffee shops to redirect the used grounds from the

landfill. www.compostcoalition.com/ground-to-ground

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East Side Compost Pedallers offers compost pick-up services in East Austin

by bicycle.

Ecology Action provides compost pick-up service to 20 businesses Most

locations use 1 or 2 65-gallon carts, with a few using 4. One of the two agencies

participating in the ARR Restaurant Recycling and Composting Pilot.

Organics by Gosh. Provides food waste pick-up service to a stops about 35businesses, many of which have multiple locations and most which have more

than one pickup per week. They have 67 stops on their routes. They provide 2, 3,

4, and 6-yard roll offs. They also provide 32, 68 and 95 gallon carts. One of the

two agencies participating in the ARR Restaurant Recycling and Composting

Pilot.

TDS provides organics and food waste collection and processing services to

numerous central Texas generators, including: residents, commercial

businesses and facilities, institutions and school districts, and special events.

TDS deploys a comprehensive approach to collecting organics and food waste

using carts, dumpsters, rolloff containers, compactors and tanker trailers. in.gredients, zero waste grocer- sends on average less than 1 lb of trash to

landfill per month, and has sent zero pounds of food waste to the landfill since

opening in August of 2012. Contracts with Break It Down to donate any

non-sellable items to Blackland Neighborhood Development Corp and collect

compost for any/all inedibles orders in small quantities and in real time with local

vendors to limit excessive spoilage creatively re-purposes edibles for in house

foods when possible. Working member ofAustin Zero Waste Alliance and

spoke as a role model/case study at the Stakeholders meeting on January 23,

2013.

Residential Composting The city encourages home composting with theircomposter rebate program.

http://www.austintexas.gov/department/compost

Green Bin Composting. Home pick-up service, weekly.

http://greenbincomposting.com/

Accomplishments (through Sept 2012 - please feel free to add!) Working group that has met mostly regularly for over a year including more than 20

volunteers with a variety of skills and backgrounds representing different views of

stakeholders - Natural Epicurean with students willing to do survey outreach, film

producer, professional waste minimization expert, farmer, advocates, food diversion

program manager, bilingual survey development and outreach

Mind map to understand the universe of food flow - established three categories

Surplus Generators/Suppliers (S)= Grocery stores, restaurants, cafeterias,

caterers, farms, and anyone who generates excess food. There are 4106 such

establishments in the Austin area.

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Intermediaries (I) = Greenling, Break It Down, Compost Coalition, East Side Compost

Peddlers, Easter Seals volunteers, former Austin Harvest program, Transportation

services that can help shift food from place to place.

End Users (E)= Anyone who could benefit from surplus food for human or salvaged

food waste for animal feed and/or compost.

Created Food Establishment Survey Developed additional questions: How else could these groups be connected? Could Ss

be Es or vice versa? How do we connect everyone efficiently? Are there other channels

or markets for waste food, i.e., renders? What resources would be needed?

Began identification of best practices for food waste recovery and landfill diversion in

Austin and around the country. (Rochester NY, Detroit, MI, etc.)

Lobbied the International Green Map system to introduce new icons for food surplus sites

Worked with Austin Resource Recovery Director Bob Gedert to incorporate Food

Diversion (not just compost) into Zero Waste Master Plan. For food surplus/scraps the

highest and best use is for it to feed humans if possible, sold into secondary markets,

then diverted for animal fee, then be turned to compost. Gathered list of farms and contact info. Developed survey for farmers on Survey Monkey

http://www.surveymonkey.com/s/ZMKSK6C. Administered survey to find out what

farmers are interested in receiving and distributing

Requested list of food establishments - manually converted PDF to Excel and cleaned up

list of 4106 establishments

Got an understanding of the scope of Capital Area Food Bank, what they do, don't do and

plan to do in their new facility which should open summer 2013.

Presented this document to Sustainable Food Policy Board August 27th, 2012

Presented this document to HHD staff on August 30th, 2012

Presented Policy proposal to Sustainable Food Policy Board September 27th, 2012 Presented policy proposal to HHD staff on September 30th, 2012

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Appendix A - Legal Protections

From the Houston Food Bank

[http://houstonfoodbank.org/uploadedFiles/HoustonFoodBank/Food%20Resourcing%20good%20sam-faith%20for%20web.pdf]

Texas Law The Good Faith Donor Act

On June 10, 1981 the Texas State Legislature passed legislation, commonly referred to as theGood Faith Donor Act to address liability for damages resulting from the condition of donated

items. The state law reads as follows:

A person who donates apparently wholesome food to a nonprofit organization for distribution to

the needy is not subject to civil or criminal liability that arises from the condition of the food,

unless an injury or death results from an act or omission of the person that constitutes gross

negligence, recklessness, or intentional misconduct.

A nonprofit organization that distributes apparently wholesome food to the needy at no charge

and that substantially complies with the applicable local, county, state and federal laws and rules

regarding the storage and handling of food for distribution to the public is not subject to civil or

criminal liability that arises from the condition of the food, unless an injury or death results froman act or omission of the organization that constitutes gross negligence, recklessness, or

intentional misconduct.

Federal Law The Emerson Good Samaritan Food Act

On October 1, 1996 the Emerson Good Samaritan Food Donation Act (Emerson Act) was

enacted. The Emerson Act is a federal law that provides national standards regarding food

donations so that donors have consistent liability information for interstate donations. The law

addresses the liability concerns of donors who contribute food in good faith and states the

following:

To encourage the donation of food and grocery products to nonprofit organizations fordistribution to needy individuals by giving the Model Good Samaritan Food Donation Act the full

force and effect of law.

A person or gleaner shall not be subject to civil or criminal liability arising from the nature, age,

packaging, or condition of apparently wholesome food or an apparently fit grocery product that

the person or gleaner donates in good faith to a nonprofit organization for ultimate distribution to

needy individuals, except that this paragraph shall not apply to an injury to or death of an ultimate

user or recipient of the food or grocery product that results from an act or omission of the donor

constituting gross negligence or intentional misconduct.

The term apparently wholesome food means food that meets all quality and labeling standards

imposed by Federal, State, and local laws and regulations even though the food may not be

readily marketable due to appearance, age, freshness, grade, size, surplus, or other conditions.

Language of Federal Law - THE EMERSON GOOD SAMARITAN FOOD ACT of 1996

Public Law 104210 104th Congress

PUBLIC LAW 104210OCT. 1, 1996 110 STAT. 3011

An Act

To encourage the donation of food and grocery products to nonprofit organizations for distribution to needy

21


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individuals by giving the Model Good Samaritan Food Donation Act the full force and effect of law.

Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress

assembled,

SECTION 1. CONVERSION TO PERMANENT LAW OF MODEL GOOD SAMARITAN FOOD DONATION

ACT AND TRANSFER OF THAT ACT TO CHILD NUTRITION ACT OF 1966.

(a) CONVERSION TO PERMANENT LAW.Title IV of the National and Community Service Act of 1990 is

amended

(1) by striking the title heading and sections 401 and 403 (42 U.S.C. 12671 and 12673) and

(2) in section 402 (42 U.S.C. 12672) (A) in the section heading, by striking MODEL and

inserting BILL EMERSON (B) in subsection (a), by striking Good Samaritan

and inserting Bill Emerson Good Samaritan (C) in subsection (b)(7), to read as follows:

(7) GROSS NEGLIGENCE.The term gross negligence means voluntary and conscious conduct

(including a failure to act) by a person who, at the time of the conduct, knew that the conduct was likely to

be harmful to the health or well-being of another person.

(D) by striking subsection (c) and inserting the follow-

ing: (c) LIABILITY FOR DAMAGES FROM DONATED FOOD AND

GROCERY PRODUCTS. (1) LIABILITY OF PERSON OR GLEANER.A person or gleaner

shall not be subject to civil or criminal liability arising from the nature, age, packaging, or condition ofapparently wholesome food or an apparently fit grocery product that the person or gleaner donates in good

faith to a nonprofit organization for ultimate distribution to needy individuals.

(2) LIABILITY OF NONPROFIT ORGANIZATION.A nonprofit organization shall not be subject to civil or

criminal liability arising from the nature, age, packaging, or condition of apparently wholesome food or an

apparently fit grocery product that the nonprofit organization received as a donation in good faith from a

person or gleaner for ultimate distribution to needy individuals.

(3) EXCEPTION.Paragraphs (1) and (2) shall not apply to an injury to or death of an ultimate user or

recipient of the food or grocery product that results from an act or omission

Oct. 1, 1996

[H.R. 2428]110 STAT. 3012

42 USC 1791.PUBLIC LAW 104210OCT. 1, 1996

of the person, gleaner, or nonprofit organization, as applicable, constituting gross negligence or intentional

misconduct. and (E) in subsection (f), by adding at the end the following: Nothing in this section shall be

construed to supercede State or local health regulations.. (b) TRANSFER TO CHILD NUTRITION ACT OF

1966.Section 402 of the National and Community Service Act of 1990 (42 U.S.C. 12672) (as amended by

subsection (a))

(1) is transferred from the National and Community Service Act of 1990 to the Child Nutrition Act of 1966

(2) is redesignated as section 22 of the Child Nutrition Act of 1966 and

(3) is added at the end of such Act. (c) CONFORMING AMENDMENT.The table of contents for the

National and Community Service Act of 1990 is amended by striking the items relating to title IV.

Approved October 1, 1996.

LEGISLATIVE HISTORYH.R. 2428:

HOUSE REPORTS: No. 104661 (Comm. on Economic and Educational Opportunities).

CONGRESSIONAL RECORD, Vol. 142 (1996): July 12, considered and passed House. Aug. 2, considered

and passed Senate, amended. Sept. 5, House concurred in Senate amendments.

WEEKLY COMPILATION OF PRESIDENTIAL DOCUMENTS, Vol. 32 (1996): Oct. 1, Presidential

statement.

Appendix B

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The Wheatsville Experience (drafted by Allen Schroeder)

Wheatsville used to have a smelly dumpster and one that attracted dumpster divers.

But now, Wheatsville Food COOP at 3001 Guadalupe, Austin Texas, is a model grocery store

when it comes to implementing the best practices in regards to not putting food waste in their

dumpster to be sent to a landfill. They realize it to be a valuable resource to be diverted, just

as their recyclable tin, glass, paper, cardboard, aluminum, and plastic is.

The situation has evolved over the last several years. Here is all they do.

1) Buying habits are closely monitored. Each department has its own buyer. A buyers

performance review includes dollars spent on spoiled food (also called slippage).

2) Slippage is collected in the back rooms. At Wheatsville there are 5 free box stations staff can

go to and put their names on product and take it with them at the end of the day a) the deli walk

in, b) the dairy cooler, c) the produce back room d) the staff lounge is where the day old breadand pastries are taken. e) the meat department

Wheatsville has contracted with a local compost and recycling hauler Break It Down (BID) to

pick up the food waste that is not fit for human consumption. BID maintains sets of 30 gallon

barrels that the deli staff roll in empty, from out back, then set out, full, at the end of the day. They

create between 12 and 15 barrels of wet, food waste per week. these barrels weigh between

2-300 lbs each when full. BID includes Wheatsville in their routes 4 days a week. They transport

it to one of a few compost makers in Travis county.

Also in the Break It Down contract is the DAILY pick up of all the food left in the free boxes.At 7 am, everyday, a subcontractor of BID arrives, collects and transports all that food (which is

usually the equivalent of 5-10 banana boxes full, daily). This people food is immediately

transported to a distribution center and is in the hands of someone less fortunate within hours.

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Appendix C - Key Players, Allies and Stakeholders and programs to coordinate and align

with

Potential Invitees to Kick-off/Roundtable

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet/ccc?key=0ApcpAWsSp0JVdHRvWlZGRU90bnJ2c

VdYWkNFVlhzZmc Food Surplus and Salvage Working Group members

Todd Wong - Founder of Austin Harvest (~1991-94)

Sustainable Food Policy Board

Paula McDermott

Michele Murphy-Smith

Health and Human Service staff

Carlos Rivera

Dr Philip Huang

Ana Amagal 914-2257

Robert Kingham Austin Resource Recovery Staff

Bob Gedert

Aiden Cohen

Woody Raine

City of Austin staff

Jake Stewart

Lucia Athens, Kate Kreuger, Katherine Gregor

Andy Moore

Alan Graham Mobile Loaves and Fishes

Austin Restaurant Association Skeeter Miller

Past President

Downtown Austin Alliance

Charles Betts

GAMA - Greater Austin Merchants Association

Texas Restaurant Association

American Restaurant Association - Conserve program

Green Restaurant Association

Capital Area Food Bank has ties to nearly all of the human end user groups and a

system accepting and distributing local food. Meals on Wheels and More already mobilizes a small volunteer army to pick up and

deliver meals for home-bound elderly. They have a commercial kitchen, staff, volunteer

coordinators and more.

Austins Universal Recycling Ordinance committee

Waste Reduction Assistance Program (WRAP)

Austin Restaurant Association - (an affiliate of the Texas Restaurant Assn.) They

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come together for meetings, events, networking and to address local issues, form

consensus, and support candidates favorable to Austins hospitality industry. They are

part of the National Restaurant Association which is supportive of food donation

programs. http://www.restaurantville.com/index.php/membership/chapters/Austin.

The Conserve Program of National Restaurant Association) http://conserve.restaurant.org/

Green Business Leader Program - Supports local businesses and their pursuit ofsustainability. http://www.austintexas.gov/department/austin-green-business-leaders

Dr. Michael Webber - research on energy loss of food waste for U.S.

Convention center

Grocery Stores

Wheatsville

HEB

Whole Foods

in.gredients

Hospitals

Hotels Major Employers - cafeterias

Cafeterias - who has the connections to them?

Academic institutions

Media - Marla Camp, Addie Broyles,

State Impact - NPR

Texas Tribune

John Dromgool

Food Trailers

Food surplus to people - National/ Examples from other Cities

Restaurant, grocery or other food establishment donations of Food Surplusto People - Austin

Farm & Garden grown Food Surplus to People - Austin

Food Salvage to Animals - Austin area

Tecolote farms

Erin Flynn

Food/Oil for BioFuel - Austin

Food Salvage to Compost - Austin

Compost companies

East Side Community Connection?

Garden supply

Composters

Hospitality

Four Seasons

Hotel Association

Hospitality Association

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http://www.google.com/url?q=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.austintexas.gov%2Fdepartment%2Faustin-green-business-leaders&sa=D&sntz=1&usg=AFQjCNE45BlSljyBOnzVOAFgbZjzuCa9Qwhttp://www.google.com/url?q=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.restaurantville.com%2Findex.php%2Fmembership%2Fchapters%2FAustin&sa=D&sntz=1&usg=AFQjCNEZ1czFmIHv4evivHUn_dzXvkTg2A


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Fantasy Media List

Association Newsletters - ongoing

Organizational Press

Statesman, Chronicle, Texas Tribune, Austin Business Journal

NPR Salt, Civil Eats, Slow Food USA,

YALE Rudd Center - Food PolicyWhole Foods

Food Day.org

KLRU

Appendix D - Language of LA Ordinance

I HEREBY MOVE that Council ADOPT the following recommendations relative to Surplus Food

Policy (Policy) Procedures and Guidelines:

1. ADOPT the Policy Procedures and Guidelines (Attachment A of the Chief Legislative Analyst

(CLA) report dated December 6, 2010).(http://clkrep.lacity.org/onlinedocs/2009/09-2326_RPT_CLA_12-06-10.pdf)

2. REQUIRE City and proprietary departments and REQUEST elected offices to inform all

contractors and subcontractors of the City's Policy to encourage the donation of surplus food to

food banks or other food assistance organizations.

3. REQUEST the City Attorney to develop standard language regarding the Policy for inclusion in

all City contracts, and instruct all City departments to include the Surplus Food Policy language

in all new contracts and provide the attached Food Donation Tracking Sheet (Attachment C of

the CLA report) to all contractors.

4. INSTRUCT the General Managers of all City departments and request elected offices and

proprietary departments to complete the Food Donation Tracking Sheet to document the typeand amount of food that is donated per event and forward the total number of forms to the CLA

by September 1, 2011.

5. DIRECT the CLA to:

a. Organize a meeting to inform all City departments

Food Recovery Efforts Lay of the Land Recommendations Next Steps

Documents

Transcript of Food Recovery Efforts Lay of the Land Recommendations Next Steps