Boston Organics Recognized for Diverting Food Waste

Boston Organics of Charlestown, MA is one of 24 New England organizations receiving a United States Environmental Protection Agency “Regional Food Recovery Achievement Certificate” for its work in reducing food waste this year.

November is EPA’s Food Recovery Month of Action and is also the beginning of the holiday “season of giving” in the U.S. With the Thanksgiving holiday at the end of the month, the nation focuses on food, donation and helping those in greatest need that may not have the abundance so many of us are afforded.

Americans throw out more food than any other type of waste. In 2013, 37 million tons of food waste were generated, of which only 1.84 million tons (5 percent) were recovered, resulting in 35 million tons going into the nation’s landfills.

According to the U.S. Department of Agriculture, approximately 14 percent of American households were uncertain of having or unable to acquire enough food to meet the needs of all of their members at some time during 2013. In many cases, the food tossed into our nation’s landfills is wholesome, edible food.

Food waste is the largest stream of materials in our landfills, accounting for 21 percent of the American waste stream. Diverting food waste from landfills also reduces the generation of harmful gases that contribute to climate change. When food is disposed of in a landfill, it decomposes rapidly and become a significant source of methane, a potent greenhouse gas that contributes to climate change. Food and food scraps not fit for consumption can be used to feed the soil by composting or added to anaerobic digestion facilities, which produce biogas that can be used for energy.

EPA is working to solve the wasted food problem and provide assistance to families, communities, organizations and businesses through our Sustainable Management of Food initiatives. The Food Recovery Challenge for which these organizations are being recognized is part of EPA’s Sustainable Materials Management Program, which seeks to reduce the environmental impact of materials throughout its entire lifecycle. Organizations setting food waste reduction goals under the Food Recovery Challenge are helping to achieve the United States’ first-ever national wasted food reduction goal – a 50 percent reduction goal by 2030. EPA is working with many partners to reduce wasted food. In 2014, EPA’s Food Recovery Challenge participants diverted nearly 606,000 tons of wasted food from entering landfills or incinerators. Of this total, more than 88,500 tons of food was donated to feed people in need.