Use Food Well Washington Plan

Food is a valuable resource, and has social, environmental, and economic value. Edible and inedible food reaches landfills more than any other single material. With one in six Washingtonians being food insecure, it is important to prevent and reduce food waste in the first place.

In April 2019, the Washington Legislature passed the Food Waste Reduction Act. This law tasks us — along with the Washington departments of Health, Agriculture, and the Office of Superintendent of Public Instruction — to write a food waste prevention plan.

This plan will recommend actions to achieve a 50% reduction in food waste in Washington by 2030. We will use 2015 waste disposal figures as the baseline for this goal.

The now titled Use Food Well Washington Plan includes recommendations within the action strategies of prevention, rescue, and recovery. Each recommendation supports the statewide goal and helps identify a pathway to a more resiliant food system.

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What does 50 percent food waste reduction look like?

This pie chart shows the total waste generated in Washington (4.6 million tons), the amount of that which is food (780,000 tons), and how much was edible when disposed (566,000 tons).

The Environmental Protection Agency's Waste Reduction Model (WARM) estimates that hitting 50% food reduction would:

Reduce greenhouse gas emissions by more than 1.6 million metric tons of carbon dioxide.
- This equates to nearly 345,000 passenger vehicles taken off Washington's roads and more than 184,000 gallons of gas that's never burned.

As we write the Use Food Well Washington Plan we will be following these requirements:

Recommend regulations that support safe food donations
Identify stable funding for food waste reduction efforts and food waste management
Indicate opportunities for technical support for organizations working in food waste recovery and prevention
Help develop K–12 food waste reduction
Facilitate safe food donations from restaurants and food markets
Recommend best management practices for local governments to incorporate into their local solid waste management plans

Contact information

Mary Harrington
Organics lead
mary.harrington@ecy.wa.gov
360-407-6915

Jade Monroe
Food waste specialist
jade.monroe@ecy.wa.gov
360-407-7157

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