Food Rescue US is a non-profit that connects food donors like Trader Joe’s and other grocery stores, restaurants, hotels, and event venues with shelters and soup kitchensand it’s done all through a website.
“What we do is rescue unsold, unused food and directly transfer it to the people who need it,” said Ellen Bowen, the site director for Food Rescue US in Miami.
The organization connects with a local volunteer to pick up and drop off the food directly.
“Forty percent of all food is wasted, yet one in five people go to bed hungry every single night,” Bowen said.
Reducing food waste is a bigger problem than you might think. 63.1 million tons of food was wasted in the US in 2018.
“If it’s not properly composted it ends up in a landfill,” said Lokesh Ramamoorthi, a lecturer at UM’s College of Engineering. When the food decomposes, it releases methane that contributes to global warming.
8-10% of global greenhouse gas emissions are associated with wasted food.
When food is wasted, it also wastes important resources like land, water, labor and energy that go into growing, storing, distributing and preparing that food.
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