Advancing Food Recovery to Reduce Food Waste

About the Program

Category: Human Services (Best in Category)

Year: 2023

In Los Angeles County, almost a half million households experience food insecurity, yet 1.7 million tons of food is sent to landfills. In response to these dual issues, the County of Los Angeles Department of Public Health (DPH) partnered with a technology-based company that created a mobile food recovery app to facilitate the donation of surplus food to communities in need. DPH collaborated with the Department of Public Works to raise awareness of the project among food businesses seeking to reduce their organic waste in order to comply with state Senate Bill 1383 (now California's Short-Lived Climate Pollutant Reduction Strategy). As part of this joint effort, DPH conducted outreach via its Environmental Health food inspectors and Nutrition and Physical Activity Program to encourage enrollment into the project. The funding, which was provided by the County of Los Angeles Quality and Productivity Commission, helped to onboard 50 businesses and schools, rescuing 102,000 lbs. of food equivalent to approximately 84,900 meals directly delivered to clients by nonprofit organizations that provide social services and meals programming. The amount of food that would have otherwise been wasted equaled about 10.1 million gallons of water and 455,000 lbs. of CO2 emissions saved.