Indiana Food Scrap Initiative
An estimated 52 million tons of food is wasted each year in the US, an economic loss of $218 billion (ReFED.com, 2017). According to the NRDC, this translates into about 40% of edible food wasted every year in America. To combat this alarming trend in the Hoosier state, the Indiana Recycling Coalition directs a multi-stakeholder driven initiative called the Indiana Food Scrap Initiative (IFSI). Starting in 2015, IFSI convened stakeholder meetings at which we forged connections and explored the causes of food waste, barriers to recovery, and the opportunities at every rung of the food waste management hierarchy to reduce, reuse, recover, compost, and digest food waste. Having formed this knowledge base over two years, in 2018, the group adopted a goal to eliminate food waste in Indiana. With this ambitious result to be achieved comes identifying robust indicators for success and formulating strategies to move those indicators forward. To tackle different sources of food waste, stakeholders split into strategy groups (outlined below) and over the next year, these groups are gathering and analyzing data, brainstorming and building strategies, identifying gaps and opportunities, and, finally, seeking funding to build up the food waste recovery infrastructure in Indiana! Strategy groups are centered around source reduction, food rescue, and composting. Each group consists of a diverse team of stakeholders representing state agencies, universities, business owners and operators, waste haulers, nonprofits, educators, technical experts, and more.
GET INVOLVED
Contact Programs Manager Marla Cherney for more information regarding this initiative.
NEWSLETTERS
IFSI’s newsletters are now part of the IRC’s quarterly newsletter. To receive those communications, sign up for our mailing list. Review previous newsletters below.
- 2020: Q1 Q2
- 2019: Q4 Q3 Q2 Q1
FOOD WASTE RESOURCE HUBS
NRDC
US EPA SMM
Refed
US Composting Council
BioCycle
Harvard Food Law and Policy Clinic
UN Food & Agriculture Program
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