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