At Sustainable America, we are passionate about significantly reducing food waste. We’ve launched plenty of tools for individuals and communities to address their waste, from our I Value Food quiz and challenge to dozens of resources helping tackle specific types of food waste in the home.
But a significant amount of food waste happens before food even makes it to our fridges and plates. From farms to supermarkets to restaurants, surplus food is a huge problem, with only 3% of it ending up donated and distributed to people in need — illustrating just how critical it is that we support food rescue and recovery organizations. That’s where the Food Rescue Locator comes in.
Originally launched in 2016, the Food Rescue Locator is a searchable, location-based online directory of organizations, groups and volunteer programs dedicated to rescuing surplus food and delivering it to food banks, pantries, and other organizations to help reduce food waste and address food insecurity. Since its initial launch, the locator has grown to include more than 300 listings across the nation.
Now, five years after bringing this useful tool to life, we’re pleased to unveil the all-new Food Rescue Locator! Rebuilt from the ground up to be more intuitive for food donors and food rescue organizations alike, the new Food Rescue Locator retains all the essential directory features while adding additional contextual data and functionality.
Check out what’s changed in the overview below!
A refreshed design
Our new design is built to make it quicker than ever to search and find food rescue organizations near you, as well as find details about the organization, its services and donation capabilities.
Improved mapping of food rescue organizations
In addition to an updated design, the Food Rescue Locator has re-integrated Google Maps functionality, allowing users to see where rescue organizations are located throughout the United States.
Better organization data collection
We’ve audited the entire food rescue organization data gathering process and display capabilities with the help of our partners at the Environmental Protection Agency, Food Rescue Alliance and the Food Law and Policy Clinic at Harvard Law School. Our aim was to improve the types of questions we ask organizations and to bolster the information the locator provides to food donors. New organizations added to the directory have additional context surrounding their rescue capabilities, while existing listings will be updated with new information over time.
Additional resources and opportunities
The Food Rescue Locator also contains a library of helpful articles, resources and educational information for food donors, volunteers and rescue organizations. These tools and resources were compiled by our team and our partners.
Nominate a food rescue feature
In addition to retaining the ability for food rescue and recovery organizations to add themselves to the directory, we’ve built-in an opportunity for people to nominate organizations and help us further build out the database.
We hope this latest update can continue to make the Food Rescue Locator a valuable resource for food donors, rescues and others for years to come. If you have any questions about the locator, don’t hesitate to reach out to us via our contact form.
