More than one-third of municipal waste streams is organic waste — nearly 100 million tons — and food waste comprises 66 million tons of that total. Aiming to reduce food loss and waste by 50% in the U.S. by 2030, three national agencies — the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), the Dept. of Agriculture (USDA) and the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) — have released a proposed national strategy that builds upon previous efforts to create a more sustainable future food supply.
The Draft National Strategy for Reducing Food Loss and Waste and Recycling Organics will identify and inform of opportunities throughout the entire food supply chain, according to a release on the proposal. The proposal will open for public comment December 5 and will remain open for 30 days.
Four objectives make up the draft strategy: (1) prevent the loss of food where possible; (2) prevent the waste of food where possible; (3) increase the recycling rate for all organic waste; (4) support policies that incentivize and encourage food loss and waste prevention and organics recycling.
Within each objective, action items are assigned the agencies as warranted, such as advising on date labeling and food safety, encouraging stakeholders to adopt technology to track and remove contaminated products from the supply, and encourage more uniform food donation practices, among others.
