Are you part of a group or organization looking to make a lasting impact on environmental issues? Food waste prevention is one of the most important projects you can tackle. To help groups take action on this important issue, we have just launched a new companion toolkit for the I Value Food: Too Good to Waste Challenge. It’s designed for workplace, school, religious or community groups, or it can be done by a group of neighbors or as a city-wide challenge.
What is the “I Value Food: Too Good to Waste” Challenge?
This 4-week food-waste prevention program is based on successful strategies developed by the U.S. EPA. Through this program, many families have reduced food waste by up to 50%.
During the first week, participants will track their preventable food waste to analyze what is going to waste and why. During the following 3 weeks, participants will be emailed tips, tools, and strategies to try as they continue to track their waste. By the end of the month, our online tracker calculates how much waste they were able to prevent.
Why is this a good project for a group?
The “I Value Food: Too Good to Waste” Challenge is a proven method for reducing food waste at the household level. While the Challenge can be done individually, doing it as a group helps keep people engaged, encourages competitiveness, and inspires a valuable exchange of ideas. Group challenges generate excitement and hold participants accountable. And if you offer an incentive for people to participate and succeed, they will be more likely to stick with it and learn something new.
Why should we prevent food waste?
Food waste is one of the most pressing problems we face. In the U.S., as much as 40% of the food we produce never gets eaten. Most of it ends up in landfills where it produces methane, a major contributor to climate change. This wasted food is also a waste of the valuable land, water, and fuel that goes into producing it. Households are responsible for the biggest slice of America’s total food waste. In fact, it’s estimated that the average person wastes close to a pound of food per day, costing a family of four up to $1,500 a year.
How to participate
To learn more about the challenge and register a group to participate, first download and read through the Group Challenge Toolkit below. It will walk you through the challenge, tell you how to sign up, and provide helpful tips for facilitating the Challenge with a group.
By supporting this challenge, your group will:
- Learn new food habits that will last a lifetime.
- Reduce greenhouse gas emissions.
- Support the US EPA and USDA’s goal to reduce food waste by 50% by 2030.
- Reduce the average of 340 pounds of wasted food per person annually.
Let’s learn to waste less, together! Download the toolkit to get started,and learn more at challenge.ivaluefood.com/groups/.
