Use Food Well Washington Plan

The Use Food Well Washington Plan is Washington's roadmap to reduce food waste by 50% by 2030. The information below includes details on the planning process, where to read the plan, food waste and wasted food data, and how to get involved.

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The Use Food Well Washington Plan

To address food waste and wasted food in Washington, the 2019 Washington Legislature unanimously passed the Food Waste Reduction Act, now codified as RCW 70A.205.715.

The law established statewide food waste reduction goals, relative to 2015 levels, including a focus on reducing the amount of wasted edible food. We are required to establish baseline data to annually track progress toward the statewide food waste reduction goals, along with drafting a food waste reduction plan to meet the 2030 goals.

We developed the 2015 baseline data, and further defined the edible food waste reduction goal, resulting in the following statewide food waste reduction goals:

Goal 1: Reduce food waste generated by 50 percent by 2030

Goal 2: Reduce at least half of edible food waste by 2030

We were also tasked to develop and implement a food waste reduction plan that focuses on three key strategies:

Prevention: Prevent and reduce the amount of food that's wasted
Rescue: Rescue edible food that would otherwise be wasted and ensure the food reaches those who need it
Recovery: Support productive uses of inedible food materials, including using it for animal feed, energy production through anaerobic digestion, and for off-site or on-site management systems including composting, vermicomposting, or other biological systems

The Use Food Well Washington Plan (UFWW Plan) prioritizes public-private partnerships over regulations, and was developed in collaboration with the state Office of Superintendent of Public Instruction (OSPI) and Washington departments of Agriculture, Commerce, and Health, and more than 100 subject matter experts.

The Use Food Well Washington Plan recommendations are a mix of federal and state policy changes, increased program funding, and investments in public education, food management systems, and recovery infrastructure. A total of 30 recommendations to reduce food waste were identified through this collaborative engagement process.

Through comprehensive implementation, the recommendations in this plan could prevent, rescue, and recover an estimated 1.3 million tons of food waste each year from landfill disposal. A significant portion of this reduction (at least 295,000 tons per year) is estimated to be edible food diverted to hunger relief or new markets. We found additional environmental, economic, and social benefits can be realized through comprehensive implementation, including a net financial benefit of over $1 billion annually.

To learn more about this work, see our introductory webinar, subscribe to the Use Food Well Washington email list, read the legislative report, or contact Jade Monroe at jade.monroe@ecy.wa.gov or 360-628-4031.

When food is wasted, so are the resources and labor used to grow, harvest, process, transport, and manage the food from farm to table. Food waste is a huge challenge, with significant environmental, social, and economic impacts.

A greater understanding of these impacts catalyzed a global effort to reduce food waste. The Food and Agricultural Organization (FAO) of the United Nations found one third (approximately 1.3 billion tons) of all food produced for human consumption is wasted¹. In the U.S., 35 percent of the 229 million tons of food available went unsold or uneaten in 2019. That’s nearly $130 billion worth of meals unsold or uneaten each year, at a cost of almost 2 percent of the U.S. Gross Domestic Product².

Our calculations indicate Washington generates more than one million tons of food waste annually, with a large portion (about 35 percent) being edible food going into landfills. Washington is now in line with global, national, and regional goals to reduce food waste by 50 precent by 2030. The Use Food Well Washington Plan is a roadmap to meet the statewide food waste reduction goals.

1. UN FAO [United Nations Food and Agricultural Organization] 2021.
Food Systems | Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (fao.org)

2. ReFED [Rethink Food waste through Economics and Data] 2021. Roadmap to 2030. https://refed.com/

As codified in RCW 70A.205.715, Ecology is required to identify Washington’s baseline food waste data. We are also responsible for tracking annual metrics to measure progress toward the statewide food waste reduction goals.

Several sources of data were used to determine the amount of food waste generated in a given year, and whether that food waste was disposed or recovered in Washington.

The 2015 baseline data shows Washington generated approximately 1.2 million tons of food waste annually, with over 390,063 tons being edible food waste. The residential sector generated 37%, and the commercial sector generated 60% of food waste annually.

To achieve the 2030 food waste reduction goals, Washington will need to reduce food waste generated by at least 579,373 tons, with at least 195,032 tons being edible food waste.

Annual food waste data in Washington 2015-2018

	2015 tons	2016 tons	2017 tons	2018 tons
Edible food disposed, all sectors*	390,063	415,807	430,468	479,428
Edible food disposed, residential sector	166,427	177,411	183,666	273,275
Edible food disposed, commercial sector	199,566	212,737	220,238	162,521
Edible food disposed, self-hauled sector	23,790	25,361	26,255	43,195
Inedible food disposed, all sectors	421,908	449,754	465,611	295,298
Inedible food disposed, residential sector	217,766	232,138	240,323	206,498
Inedible food disposed, commercial sector	189,913	202,448	209,585	58,486
Inedible food disposed, self-hauled sector	13,898	14,816	15,338	30,144
Recovered food waste, all sectors	346,775	353,268	306,292	287,296
Recovered food waste, residential sector	43,913	69,575	49,324	38,588
Recovered food waste, commercial sector	302,862	283,693	256,968	248,708
Food waste generated total, all sectors	1,158,746	1,218,829	1,202,371	1,062,022

Federal policy

Strengthen the Bill Emerson Good Samaritan Food Donation Act
Support a national date labeling standard
Increase markets for lower-grade or “imperfect” produce
Improve federal tax incentives

State policy

Create the Washington Center for Sustainable Food Management
Continue support for the Pacific Coast Food Waste Commitment
Connect the Use Food Well Washington Plan to the Food Policy Forum
Research strategies and develop partnerships to prevent food and food waste from entering landfills
Improve regulatory certainty for organics facility operations
Develop an emergency food distribution plan for Washington schools
Support 20-minute seated lunch minimum in Washington elementary schools
Support recess before lunch in Washington elementary schools
Increase access to food waste reduction education in Washington schools

Funding

Dedicate state grant funding for statewide food waste reduction
Increase funding for local health jurisdictions
Increase funding for local government food waste reduction work
Build more farm to school partnerships

Public education

Develop and maintain statewide food waste reduction campaigns
Develop and maintain statewide food waste contamination reduction campaign

Infrastructure development

Increase use of food waste and wasted food data tracking
Develop and maintain maps of food and wasted food flows
Improve food donation transportation
Increase access to cold chain management
Build more community food hubs
Support value-added food processing and manufacturing
Increase infrastructure investment in schools
Expand anerobic digestion at water resource reclemation facilities, compost facilities, and farms
Develop high-solids anaerobic digesters for mixed organic residuals
Increase use of small-scale anaerobic digesters
Diversify food waste management systems

Webinar on the Use Food Well Washington Plan

Contact information

Jade Monroe
Food Waste Lead
jade.monroe@ecy.wa.gov
360-628-4031

Mary Harrington
Organics Lead
mary.harrington@ecy.wa.gov
360-742-8233

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