Waste Prevention Information Exchange

Food Waste

This topic is also known as "Food Scrap Management."

Also see Hospitality in this directory.

CalRecycle Programs and Services

• Food Recycling
• Food Scrap Management

CalRecycle Publications

CalRecycle has either printed or Web publications on this topic that you can find at either our publication search page or our Web site search page. They Include:

• Food Waste Recovery: Models for Local Government Recycling and Waste Reduction—Food waste recovery model for local governments. Publication #310-02-001, MS Word Document, 6.5 MB.
• Local Governments--You Can Divert Waste and Help Fight Hunger—Information for local governments regarding the impact of food discards on the waste stream and how they can encourage diversion of that waste through food banks and food rescue programs. Publication #311-00-005, MS Word Document, 39 KB. 
• Restaurants and Grocery Stores--Save Money and Help Fight Hunger—Information for food service businesses on how they can save on disposal costs by donating food to food banks and food rescue programs. Publication #311-00-004, MS Word document, 34 KB.

Other Resources

Documents

• Donating Surplus Food to the Needy—Some tips for restaurants and Hotels from U. S. EPA.  Included two case studies of large cafeterias. Portable Document Format (PDF), 124 KB.
• Don't Throw Away That Food: Strategies for Record-Setting Waste Reduction—From US EPA.  Also available in Portable Document Format (PDF) from this link.
• Estimating and Addressing America's Food Losses—Twenty-seven percent of the food produced for human consumption in the U.S. is thrown out as waste, equaling 48 million tons annually. Learn this and other amazing facts in this report from the United States Department of Agriculture, Economic Research Service. Portable Document Format (PDF), 104 KB.
• Everyday Specials: Reuse and Recycle—How restaurants in the San Francisco Bay area adopt eco-friendly practices. By Deborah Grossman, Alameda Times-Star, November 20, 2002.
• Managing Food Scraps as Animal Feed—Storage and handling procedures, and some permit requirements. Includes two case studies. From US EPA. Portable Document Format (PDF), 110 KB.

Web Sites

• Green Cafeterias—Describes a cafeteria that practices composting, and uses both compostable and  reusable utensils.