CEO DATELINE - Associations applaud U.S. effort to reduce food waste
CEO DATELINE - Associations applaud U.S. effort to reduce food waste
- September 18, 2015 |
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Walt Williams
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Federal officials unveiled a plan Thursday to reduce the amount of food waste Americans generate by 50 percent in 15 years, and several associations are on board with the idea.
At a news conference in New York City, Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack and Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Gina McCarthy announced what they said was the nation's first-ever food waste reduction goal. Federal officials will partner with charitable organizations, faith-based groups and the private sector to reduce the amount of food being thrown away, including the education of consumers on how long food remains fresh in refrigerators.
The Food Marketing Institute is among groups supporting the effort. FMI CEO Leslie Sarasin said food retailers are "intimately connect to the lives of their shoppers."
"Reducing food waste at all levels in the food chain—farm, factory, store and home—is certainly one of those issues with economic and emotional appeal," she said. http://1.usa.gov/1JeIzP7
Grocery Manufacturers Association CEO Pamela Bailey noted her members have already made efforts to reduce food waste.
"Last year, GMA member companies recycled 93 percent of the food waste generated from manufacturing, and donated 106 million pounds of food to food banks," she said.
Bailey also pointed out that GMA helped launch the Food Waste Reduction Alliance in 2011. The alliance is a coalition of business groups, retailers, restaurants and food service groups that work to identify the sources of food waste and find ways to combat the problem.
The National Restaurant Association called the U.S. plan a "step in the right direction." NRA CEO Dawn Sweeney said the key to improving the situation was providing her industry with the information they need to reduce food waste.
"Restaurant operators have been working diligently to minimize food waste generation by reducing the amount of waste sent to landfills and donating unused food to those in need," she said.
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