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Food Waste Recovery Hierarchy
Food Scraps
Similar to its solid waste management hierarchy (e.g., source reduction and reuse, recycling and composting, disposal), EPA has suggested a food waste recovery hierarchy to show how productive use can be made of excess food. The food waste recovery hierarchy comprises the following activities, with disposal as the final option:
- Source Reduction – Reduce the volume of food waste generated
- Feed People – Donate extra food to food banks, soup kitchens and shelters
- Feed Animals – Provide food to farmers
- Industrial Uses – Provide fats for rendering and food discards for animal feed production
- Composting – Convert food scraps into a nutrient rich soil amendment
Food Hierarchy
EPA's Putting Surplus Food to Good Use: A How-To Guide for Food Service Providers (PDF) (2 pp, 1.1MB, about PDF) helps food service providers start a food waste reduction and recovery program at their facilities.
EPA, in conjunction with the US Department of Agriculture, developed a comprehensive guide detailing what businesses and individuals can do to ensure good food doesn't go to waste. Waste Not/Want Not: Feeding the Hungry and Reducing Solid Waste Through Food Recovery (PDF) (59 pp, 1.4MB, about PDF) helps explain how any state or municipality, as well as any private business that deals with food, can reduce its solid waste by facilitating the donation of wholesome surplus food according to the food hierarchy.
EPA's Don't
Throw Away That Food: Strategies for Record-Setting
Waste Reduction provides examples of successful
food recovery programs.
EPA's Donating Surplus Food to the Needy (PDF) (4 pp, 120K) focuses on Prepared and Perishable Food Programs, also called food recovery programs or surplus food distribution programs, that redistribute small volumes of freshly prepared foods and perishables.
