Organically Grown Company has joined the U.S. Food Waste Pact (Pact), a joint initiative led by nonprofits ReFED and World Wildlife Fund (WWF) to reduce food waste throughout the supply chain. The company joins 23 other food businesses and organizations that participate in the collaborative food waste reduction effort centered on the "Target, Measure, Act" framework.
According to ReFED, 31 percent of the food supply goes unsold or uneaten in the United States each year. The majority of that surplus food is sent to waste destinations like landfills, incinerators, and sewer systems. Once wasted, food generates 10 percent of the United States' methane emissions, and wasted food accounts for 16 percent of freshwater use and 16 percent of land use. For food businesses concerned about the effects of food waste on their bottom lines, surplus food was valued at $382B in 2023, 1.4 percent of U.S. GDP.
"Supporting organic farmers and getting healthy food onto people's tables are among our biggest priorities," said Mike Dill, director of advocacy and sustainability at Organically Grown Company. "Part of our commitment to make our food system more sustainable is to prevent food from going to waste in the first place. Preventing waste is key to building a better food system, and that takes all of us, and we're excited to collaborate with ReFED and WWF through the U.S. Food Waste Pact."
© Organically Grown Co.
The company joins 23 other food businesses and organizations that participate in the collaborative food waste reduction effort centered on the "Target, Measure, Act" framework.
Sustainability is at the core of the company's mission, and in 2024, it reached a zero-waste threshold of 93 percent in its operations, including donating over 780,000 pounds of edible produce to hunger relief nonprofits and an estimated 100,000 pounds to coworkers, and diverting 600,000 pounds of food from landfill to animal feed. Through their partnership with the Pacific Coast Food Waste Commitment (PCFWC), a regional collaboration also including ReFED and WWF that served as the inspiration for the national Pact, Organically Grown participated in a "whole chain" project that identified food waste hotspots in the supply chain for one of its plum farmers, the learnings from which sparked an organization-wide commitment to expanding food waste prevention and diversion.
Organically Grown Company is the 24th business to join the U.S. Food Waste Pact. Other current signatories are retailers Ahold Delhaize USA, Albertsons Companies, ALDI US, Amazon Fresh, Kroger, Raley's, Sprouts Farmers Market, Walmart Inc., and Whole Foods Market; manufacturers Bob's Red Mill, Del Monte Fresh Produce Company, and Lamb Weston, Inc.; coalition signatories FMI—The Food Industry Association, Health Care Without Harm, and the R&DE Stanford Food Institute; foodservice signatories Aramark, Compass Group USA, ISS Guckenheimer, and Sodexo USA; quick-service restaurants Chick-fil-A, Starbucks, and Wawa; and hospitality signatory Hilton.
For more information:
Amy Brown
Organically Grown Company
[email protected]
www.organicgrown.com