The Environmental Protection Agency recognized a local food waste reduction collaboration between the city, Iowa City Landfill, East Side Recycling Center and New Pioneer Food Co-op during its Food Recovery Week of Action in November.

The model program yielded great information and the challenge will be creating a sustainable path to reduce the amount of food waste going to the landfill, those involved with the project say.

About 15 percent, or 18,000 tons, of what goes into the landfill each year is food waste, according to the city's website.

"Wasted food is not only the largest waste stream in the U.S., but it is also the least recovered," James Callier, chief of the EPA Region 7 Resource Conservation and Pollution Prevention Section, said in an email. "Wasted food also wastes the energy, water resources and dollars necessary to produce the food."

With its Food Too Good to Waste Program, the EPA is working to develop a scalable model featuring a community-based approach to foster food consumption behaviors that reduce wasted food. The Iowa City groups were recognized by Callier for their contributions toward that end.

A six-week food waste study of 52 households has been drafted and soon will be posted on the city website, said Jennifer Jordan, Iowa City's recycling coordinator. The study produced lessons learned and next steps.

The project used information from the EPA's Food: Too Good to Waste Program to educate participants, which Jordan said was helpful in reducing wasted food and saving money. Tips included smart shopping: buy what you need; smart storage: keep fruits and vegetables fresh; smart prep: prep now, eat later; and smart saving: eat what you buy.

Lessons learned from the project included the fact that some households prefer to compost their own food waste, while others prefer the city did curbside pickup. Annual yard waste stickers proved to be the best method for consumers and the city to identify food waste for pickup.

"We did pretty extensive outreach to the families who participated," Jordan said. "We'll need to do the same for other families who want to participate to ensure that people understand what is and is not acceptable for composting."

Jordan said city staff is in the process of planning the food waste reduction outreach program and a curbside collection to roll out in the spring.

Reducing the food waste stream is a complex problem, although the benefits are clear. According to the EPA, reducing food waste saves money from buying less food; reduces methane emissions from landfills; lowers your carbon footprint; conserves energy and resources, preventing pollution involved in the growing, manufacturing, transporting and selling food; and supports the community by providing donated untouched food that would have otherwise gone to waste to those who might not have a steady food supply. This work is best done at the local level, according to EPA's Callier.

"Local municipalities are ideally positioned to help the public and businesses reduce the amount of food waste and provide alternatives to landfilling, such as donation and composting," Callier said. "Iowa City and their efforts in the Food Too Good to Waste Program are a prime example."

"Sadly, food waste has now become one of the largest portions of the waste stream and it's clear we all need to do more to address this issue," said Liz Christiansen, director of the University of Iowa Office of Sustainability. "Iowa City helped the University of Iowa establish a food waste collection program several years ago and now the city is once again leading the way by tackling household food waste."

"The biggest challenges (going forward) will be outreach and contamination," Jordan said. "We have a limited budget for program outreach so we'll use our regular city methods: media releases, web pages, social media, utility bills and face-to-face outreach at events such as the Farmers Market."

In addition to UI and the city, local groups are doing their part to reduce the amount of wasted food going to the landfill.

"Our interest in composting food and paper waste comes right from our mission statement," Theresa Carbrey, education and member services coordinator for New Pioneer Food Co-op, said in an email. "We are an environmentally and socially responsible member of the community we serve."

The nonprofit Table-to-Table is well known for its mission to to keep wholesome, edible food from going to waste by collecting it from donors and distributing to those in need through agencies that serve the hungry, homeless and at-risk populations.

Table-to-Table accounts for about half of the 1.1 million pounds of food the Crisis Center of Johnson County Food Bank delivers to clients annually, said communications coordinator Adam B Sullivan.

"Table-to-Table is the primary source of our recovered food," Sullivan said. "When someone approaches us about an ongoing food recovery opportunity, we usually direct them to Table-to-Table."

The last resort in the EPA food recovery cycle is sending waste food to the landfill, but the EPA says better options include composting, use as animal feed and recovery to feed people.

by Paul Deaton