City joins regional initiative to reduce food waste in cities
In Pittsburgh, 89,000 tons of food are wasted each year, according to estimates from the Natural Resources Defense Council. Restaurants waste the most — 30,300 tons — followed by homes at 27,900 tons.
The city and its residents will look for ways to waste less, helping themselves and the rest of the country, now that Pittsburgh is one of five mid- Atlantic cities chosen by the NRDC to participate in a new Food Matters Regional Initiative.
Pittsburgh joins initiative hub city Baltimore, which has been working with the nonprofit environmental group on this issue, and Philadelphia, Jersey City, N. J., and Washington, D. C., in developing strategies to prevent food waste, rescue surplus food
and recycle food scraps.
At the same time, in the Southeast, Nashville and Memphis, Tenn.; Asheville, N. C.; Atlanta; and Orlando, Fla., will work together.
The aim is to find bold solutions that other municipalities can adopt “to advance local economic prosperity and reduce pollution,” according to legislation presented by the Department of City Planning to City Council on Tuesday. Council voted to authorize City Planning Director Andrew Dash and Mayor Bill Peduto to sign on to the initiative, which has no cost to the city but could have plenty of benefits.
One is a local food waste audit to identify areas that could be improved, says Shelly Danko Day, the city’s urban agriculture and food policy adviser. She applied to be in this initiative with Sustainable Pittsburgh’s program director, Rebecca Bykoski.
The audit will include looking at specific places such as a senior center and recreation center. Another strategy will be to get the message to consumers, with NRDC ads.
“Now we have access to those resources,” Ms. Danko Day said.
The NRDC’s work on reducing food waste goes back to 2012, when it identified municipalities as a key intervention point to reduce an estimated 40% of all food that ends up in landfills. It piloted a city- level project with the Nashville Food Waste Initiative in 2015 and expanded that program to Denver and New York City in 2017. The NRDC reported then that two- thirds of food that city residents throw away could have been eaten.
Through its work in those cities and in Baltimore, the council came up with tools such as mayoral “challenges” and training health inspectors to advocate for food waste strategies. Here, a partner in the process will be Sustainable Pittsburgh, which already works with restaurants seeking to attain one of four levels of the designation “Sustainable Pittsburgh Restaurant.” Reducing waste is a key component of that program.
One restaurant that has attained the top “platinum” certification is Square Cafe, now in Braddock but moving this month to East Liberty. Owner Sherree Goldstein limits food waste by using everything the restaurant can (“We crumble and crush vegetables stems for bases for some menu items,” she says.) and composting what it can’t.
Having food scraps hauled to a commercial composter costs $ 150 a month, but sustainability is worth it, Ms. Goldstein says. She notes that while she doesn’t broadcast it on the menu or anything, Square Cafe employees are well- versed in particulars to talk about it with customers. Some regulars take home five- gallon containers of coffee grounds to compost and spread on their plants.
Ms. Danko Day, who with Ms. Bykoski attended the Food Matters Cities Summit in Denver in November, says one fun thing they would like to cook up, if the COVID- 19 crisis eases, is a restaurant challenge pitting Pittsburgh against Baltimore, “and we want to kick their butts.” Improvements adopted here will help Pittsburgh achieve its Climate Action Plan 3.0 Zero- Waste goals.
The problems are bigger than just wasted food. America throws out more than 400 pounds of food per person per year, worth $ 218 billion — or about $ 1,800 per year for a family of four, according to the NRDC.
Also wasted are the resources that produced it, including 21% of the fresh water used by the U. S. agricultural industry, tons of agricultural chemicals and vast acres of cropland. The group says wasted food also annually generates climate change- causing pollution equivalent to 37 million cars.
Pittsburgh already is on the food waste reduction map thanks to organizations such as 412 Food Rescue, a nonprofit that started here in 2015 to reduce both waste and hunger by “rescuing” food for people who can use it.
This summer, it surpassed 10 million pounds of food rescued. Its technology platform is licensed for use by food rescue organizations from San Francisco to Philadelphia. The nonprofit aims to serve 100 cities with 1 million volunteers by 2030.
“We look forward to what this means for the city” to be involved in this regional initiative, 412 Food Rescue’s chief operating officer, David Primm, says.
Ms. Danko Day says the city is just getting started on this initiative, which is to last at least two years, and that officials look forward to working with multiple partners.
“We’re getting everyone in the loop to work on this. ... We’re very happy for the opportunity,” she says.
“I really think it has the potential for Pittsburgh and its residents to be a model for reducing food waste,” Ms. Bykoski says.