GCCA members fighting food loss

Many of GCCA’s members such as Versa Cold, Burris Logistics, Lineage, RLS Logistics, and Doboy Cold Stores are taking steps to become more sustainable by encouraging their customers to donate, rather than dump food while developing close relationships with food banks in their area. They strive to educate their customers on the scale and effects of food loss and waste, and inform them on steps they can take to solve this issue.

Versa Cold prioritizes educating their employees and customers on food loss and waste, and will store, transport and donate food on their customers’ behalf.

Burris Logistics has formed close relationships with two food banks in their area, and will even store food donations free of charge if the food banks are at capacity.

To learn more about Burris Logistics’ and Versa Cold’s efforts to reduce food loss and waste, see the Food Max article in our COLD FACTS magazine September-October 2018 edition.

Lineage Logistics officially partnered with Feeding America, the largest hunger-relief organization in the United States. Since the partnership’s inception in January 2019, Lineage has donated $150,000, the equivalent of 1.5 million meals*, in addition to time and supply chain expertise to the leading non-profit. To read the full press release, click here. 

We want to spread the word about what our members are doing to reduce food loss and waste. If you are a member and want to share your story, please contact Cathy Lada at clada@gcca.org.

Industry partners fighting food loss

Industry partners such as Feeding America, Food Cowboy, the Food Waste Reduction Alliance, and the World Wildlife Fund are also working to reduce food loss and waste by implementing innovative solutions to redirect food away from landfills.

Feeding America is the nation’s largest domestic hunger-relief organization. It works with manufacturers, distributors, retailers, food service companies and farmers to gather food before it goes to waste. Through a network of 200 food banks and 60,000 food pantries and meal programs, Feeding America provides meals to more than 46 million people each year.

Food Cowboy has implemented a “No Waste Promise” through using location-based technology to route food to its highest and best user. They help connect food donors with non-profit organizations who provide meals or groceries to people in need, they provide technical assistance to help communities develop their own programs to reduce food loss and waste, and they hold education and awareness campaigns.

The Food Waste Reduction Alliance’s sustainability goals include source reduction, redirection of unsold product to food donation networks, and ultimately keeping unconsumed food out of the landfills. The FWRA works to accomplish these objectives through workshops that provide education on best practices regarding donation programs and procedures.

The World Wildlife Fund (WWF) promotes source reduction to preserve wildlife habitats in part by preventing, donating, and diverting food products to mitigate waste. They conducted a food loss and waste study in conjunction with GCCA to reduce postharvest loss, believing that they need to collect data on food waste first in order to implement effective solutions. To learn more about this study, see the press release, web story, and full report,  “No Food Left Behind: Underutilized Produce Ripe for Alternative Markets.”

Retail efforts towards fighting food loss

Walmart has kicked off a huge initiative called Project Gigaton where their goal is to prevent one billion metric tons (one gigaton) of greenhouse gases from entering the global value chain by 2030. Reducing food loss and waste is part of this project, and Walmart provides practical guidance on reducing food loss and waste for companies that partner with them in this effort.

Kroger created a campaign called “Zero Hunger, Zero Waste” in efforts to reduce waste while feeding those in need.  They are focused on plans to launch a $10 Million Zero Hunger, Zero Waste Innovation Fund, seeking opportunities to improve food security through preventing and reducing food loss and waste.

Tweet with GCCA about Food Maximization

What efforts are you taking to reduce food loss and food waste? Tweet about your initiatives using the following hashtags:

#SupplyChainSolutions

#GoodToGive

#FoodWaste

#EndHunger

#EraseFoodWaste