News from the EarthWays Center

Around 35% of all food in the United States went unsold or uneaten in 2019 – the equivalent of $408 billion! At the same time, 1 in 8 Americans were food insecure. There are models showing that cutting our food waste in half is the number one solution to climate change. The great news is there is something we can all do to help solve the issue of wasted food! The St. Louis Sustainable Food Management Summit, hosted by Wichita State University Environmental Finance Center in early September 2021, aimed to help bring stakeholders from across the region to problem solve about how to get the best use from excess food. EarthWays Center was proud to be a partner supporting the efforts to help feed people, protect the planet, and grow in our shared prosperity in the food system.

The two-day summit covered a wide range of issues. The first day featured Sue Marshall, the founder and CEO of NETZRO, who spoke about food byproduct upcycling and ways to get the most value from our food waste. The panel discussion, moderated by EarthWays own Jean Ponzi, dove into the topic of food donation policy and example of successful donation partnerships in the region. The second day featured a panel and discussion of how to talk about wasted food with various stakeholders. Hope Gribble from USGBC’s Missouri Gateway Chapter and Maggie McCoy from EarthWays both shared perspectives as part of this panel.

Are you interested in learning more about wasted food and how as an individual or a business you can be part of sustainable food management? Watch the recordings from the summit online, check out earthday365’s new Too Good To Waste campaign, join the Green Business Challenge in 2022, or book a guest speaker on wasted food from EarthWays Center.