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From NRDC
As we jump into 2025, our team reflects on last year’s progress in the fight against food waste. From co-leading the Zero Food Waste Coalition to expanding the Food Matters cities network to supporting state policy, we have seen sustained progress, innovation, and collaboration across the food waste space. There have been many key achievements and other exciting developments over the past year and much more to come this year.
- Food Matters progress: This year we celebrated the progress of NRDC’s Food Matters initiative and published our 2024 Food Matters Annual Report. We provided technical support and resources to over 20 city-based partners, who helped divert over 35,750 tons of food waste from landfills and incinerators, preventing nearly 62,000 metric tons of climate-warming carbon equivalent emissions.
- Model municipal policies: In the past year, we continued our collaboration with the Environmental Law Institute to expand our suite of model municipal policies for food waste reduction. Our most recently released model, Model Municipal Ordinance on Zoning for Community Composting, will be joined in the coming months by another model ordinance covering additional facets of community composting.
- Food Waste Prevention Week: This annual consumer education campaign garnered over 840 partners spanning 49 states and 19 countries in 2024. Through the planning committee we shared our model municipal policies and other food waste reduction resources.
- USDA grants: Through the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s (USDA) Composting and Food Waste Reduction Cooperative Agreements, $11.5 million was awarded to 38 composting and food waste reduction projects across 23 states, funding initiatives like food rescue, composting infrastructure, and education programs to help cities and counties divert food waste from disposal, while also helping communities save money and strengthen food security.
