Earlier this year, we launched I Value Food, a national campaign to help educate people about food waste and how to reduce it. Soon, we’ll be kicking off a project closer to home, here in Connecticut. We were just awarded a $25,000 grant from the EPA’s New England office to implement a Food: Too Good to Waste program with members of faith-based congregations in the Greater Bridgeport and Stamford areas.
The Food Too Good to Waste program includes strategies and tools that have been linked to a 25% reduction in household wasted food among pilot participants. Over the course of six weeks, participants keep track of the amount of food they waste as they learn about and implement these strategies, like storing produce properly and planning meals.
The best results come when a group or community of households do the program together. That’s why we’re seeking out leaders in faith-based communities who want to facilitate the program with members of their congregations. In addition to the social, environmental and economic reasons that motivate people to reduce wasted food, many people of faith have an additional motivation: the moral imperative to be good stewards of the planet. Our project partners — Interfaith Council of Southwestern Connecticut and Fairfield County Interfaith Alliance on Climate Change — are helping us recruit leaders in these communities.
The goal of the project is to raise awareness about food waste, reduce household level food waste and ultimately reduce the amount of food waste that is incinerated or landfilled. Considering that 21% of the U.S. food supply is lost at the consumer level, helping individuals waste less is an important piece in the movement to reduce food waste. If you’re a member of a congregation in Stamford or Bridgeport and you want to participate, please contact us.
We are honored to be part of a larger group of 2015 Healthy Communities Grant Program participants, which are all helping to improve different aspects of public health in New England communities. Third Sector New England also received funding to expand a Food: Too Good to Waste program to low-income households across Rhode Island.
RELATED ARTICLES
Quiz: How Much Food Do You Waste?
Book Review: “Waste Free Kitchen Handbook”
USDA and EPA Set Historic Goal to Cut Food Waste in Half
Photo: Stan via Flickr.
