Food Scraps Resources
Food Scraps
You will need Adobe Reader to view some of the files on this page. See EPA's PDF page to learn more.
- Food Scraps Publications
- Food Waste Management Cost Calculator
- Food Waste Education Curriculums and Student Activities
- Food Donation Centers
- Other Food Scraps Resources
Food Scraps Publications
- EPA's Putting
Surplus Food to Good Use: A How-To Guide for Food Service
Providers (PDF) (2 pp, 1.1MB)
helps food service providers start a food waste reduction
and recovery program at their facilities.
- A
Guide to Commercial Food Composting, compiled by EPA
and the Composting Council.
- California Integrated Waste Management Board's Food
for Thought: Restaurant Guide to Waste Reduction and Recycling
presents an overview of waste management practices for the restaurant industry.
- The Center for Ecological Technology (CET) Composting
in Restaurants and Schools - A Municipal Toolkit (PDF)
(68 pp, 2.2MB)
includes a step-by-step description of how to set up a food waste diversion program.
- Connecticut's Identifying,
Quantifying, and Mapping Food Residuals from Connecticut
Businesses and Institutions
study identified, quantified, and mapped all of the large-scale commercial and institutional locations in Connecticut where potentially recyclable food scraps are generated, and matched those sources against the state's transportation network and current composting infrastructure.
- EPA's Waste
Not/Want Not: Feeding the Hungry and Reducing Solid Waste
Through Food Recovery (PDF) (59
pp, 1.4MB), developed in conjunction with the US
Department of Agriculture, details what businesses and individuals
can do to ensure good food doesn't go to waste.
- EPA's Waste Reduction Record-Setters Don't
Throw Away That Food: Strategies for Record-Setting Waste
Reduction provides case studies from several communities
for recovery of food discards.
- EPA's
Donating Surplus Food to the Needy (PDF) (4
pp, 121K) addresses the donation of surplus food
as part of a waste reduction program. Discusses traditional
food banks; prepared and perishable food programs; food
program services; donor responsibilities; and common concerns.
- Georgia's A
Fact Sheet for Managing Food Materials (PDF) (5
pp, 205K)
encourages businesses, such as food service providers, processors, and merchandisers to eliminate waste and recover food waste.
- Oregon's Commercial
Food Waste Composting Study Project Report
presents the findings of a study comparing different methods of composting.
- North Carolina's Organics:
Food Residuals Market Assessment fact sheet (PDF) (7
pp, 224K)
provides an overview of supply and demand of food residuals.
Food Waste Management Cost Calculator
- Food Waste Management Cost Calculator estimates the cost competitiveness of alternatives to food waste disposal.
Food Waste Education Curriculums and Student Activities
- Pack
a Waste Free Lunch contains a poster and activities
that will help students learn how to reduce, reuse, and
recycle items in their school lunches.
- School
Composting…The Next Step in Recycling - A Manual for
Connecticut Schools
, a manual written specifically for K-12 schools, outlines the steps necessary for establishing and maintaining a successful school-wide composting program for cafeteria food scraps.
- Scraps
To Soil: A How-To Guide for School Cafeteria Composting
is a hands-on implementation guide from the Association of Vermont Recyclers; features include an easy-to-read student section, followed by a more detailed, cross-referenced teacher section, and appendices with in-class activities and resources.
- Wisconsin's Environmental Education for Kids! (EEK!) Composting
with Worms
page details how to set up a composting bin with worms for food scraps.
Food Donation Centers
- America's Second
Harvest
- The Nation's Food Bank Network is the largest domestic hunger-relief organization in the United States. America's Second Harvest feeds over 23 million hungry Americans each year, educates the public about hunger in America and advocates for public policies that positively impact hungry Americans. On this site you can find your local food bank or food rescue organization by entering your zip code.
Other Food Scraps Resources
- California Integrated Waste Management Board (CIWMB) Food
Scrap Management
Web site provides information and resources to help reduce food waste and save money on disposal costs.
- The Solid Waste Resource Renewal Group at Rutgers, The State University
of New Jersey (SWPG) has a Food Waste Initiative
. Through the only New Jersey-wide food residuals recycling initiative, SWRRG has brought together waste generators, recyclers, and government to find optimal ways of diverting food waste away from methane production in landfills and into production of energy and soil amendments
- North Carolina's Green
Plan for the Food Service Industry
includes links to fact sheets and presentations on food waste.
- Seattle Public Utilities' Composting Kitchen Scraps
page describes how to compost food waste for the homeowner.
- Stopwaste.org's Food
Scrap Recycling
describes the residential food scrap recycling program in Alameda County (California).
- WasteCap of Massachusetts' Information
on Recycling Food and Organic Residuals
provides information for Massachusetts businesses and institutions.