Can Simplifying Food Waste Regulation Help Create Businesses & Jobs?
ReFED, a collaborative, cross-sector non-profit committed to reducing the $218 billion of food waste in the US, recently unveiled two new tools: a database of innovative food waste solutions, and an interactive map that centralizes federal- and state-level food waste policy to assist advocates and policymakers.
“ReFED’s 2016 ‘Roadmap to Reduce US Food Waste’ identified concrete opportunities to save money and resources, feed people and create jobs,” said Chris Cochran, Executive Director of ReFED. “The Innovator Database and Policy Finder build on the Roadmap by creating a one-stop shop for stakeholders interested in understanding food waste policy and innovation – two levers that have the power to make change across sectors. These tools reveal that food waste reduction is both a source of viable, scalable business enterprise and a potentially significant job generator.”
ReFED’s Food Waste Innovator Database enables users to explore 400+ commercial and non-profit entities in the dynamic food waste innovation sector, broken down by solution type and geography. ReFED’s Food Waste Policy Finder, developed in partnership with Harvard Law School’s Food Law and Policy Clinic, features an interactive map that navigates the federal and state policy landscape.
“To reach the national 50% food waste reduction target, we need supportive policies at all levels of government. This year, more than a dozen states are considering new food waste legislation,” said Emily Broad Leib, Assistant Clinical Professor of Law at Harvard Law School and Director of the Food Law and Policy Clinic. “We hope this tool will help businesses and food recovery organizations better understand the applicable laws so that they can make better food recovery decisions, while also helping policymakers implement better laws and even experiment with new policies to reduce the waste of healthy, wholesome food.”
“Tools like the Innovator Database and Policy Finder give public and private sector stakeholders the insights they need to make smart decisions that generate the most impact,” said Devon Klatell, Associate Director at The Rockefeller Foundation. “Food is wasted at every broken link in the supply chain, giving all of us a role to play in tackling this critical issue. Repairing those links depends on collaboration across sectors, and we need organizations like ReFED to identify and encourage the opportunities to do so.”
“Meeting our national food waste reduction goal depends on the entrepreneurial spirit of innovators, action across the food system, and the strong commitment of funders like The Rockefeller Foundation and Walmart Foundation, and many others. We hope these tools will convene stakeholders who haven’t – or otherwise wouldn’t – collaborate on food system challenges, and guide them to use insights, backed by robust economics and data analysis, to identify proven solutions to immediately cut food waste,” said Cochran.
(Source: ReFED)
