One store's trash, one foodsaver's dinner

Since its 2015 Expo, Milan has continued to foster a number of unique initiatives to combat food waste, promote healthy and sustainable food systems, and ensure that its people never go hungry. Through projects such as collecting unsold food at the end of market day for distribution in soup kitchens, using apps to redirect food waste, implementing new laws to ease the process of food donation, as well as fostering collaboration between cities, Milan is leading the efforts to prioritize food on the New Urban Agenda.

Technology can help reduce food waste. Olio and Winnow are two examples. Olio is an app that allows people to easily exchange extra or unwanted food for free. Winnow is a smart trash can that calculates the cost of waste in commercial kitchens, inspiring chefs to be more creative to save both food and money.

After Boston Public Schools closed in March because of the COVID-19 pandemic, about 70 volunteers tended schoolyard gardens at 14 schools to grow food for local families experiencing economic hardship. While students were not able to participate because of COVID restrictions, residents during the summer months cleaned garden beds and planted vegetables like eggplants, cucumbers, and peppers. Organizers expect to harvest about 300 pounds of vegetables by the end of September.

During the COVID-19 pandemic, Rafael Duckur, an organic food producer in Brazil, started Pertim, a network of farmers working to help families in neighborhoods who can’t meet their basic needs. The group buys food like fruits, vegetables, eggs, and coffee from farmers to fill boxes that are sent to the neighborhoods. While the logistics of collecting and distributing the boxes can be difficult, Pertim hopes to cut down on food waste from unsold produce while supporting local agriculture producers.

Farmers and volunteers are working together to help feed the hungry in New Jersey. New Jersey Agricultural Society's Farmers Against Hunger Program relies on gleaning to turn food waste into a meal for someone in need; similar programs across the country are also using unsold or unwanted produce to make an impact.

Good Grocer, a grocery store in Minneapolis, is a nonprofit run by volunteers who receive an additional discount on groceries for their work. The store’s food outlet offers discounts of up to 70% and provides affordable, healthy foods to combat food insecurity.

UpRoot, a new Colorado startup, is working to help farmers fill the labor gap and feed the hungry. Farmers across the state face a labor shortage, leaving huge amounts of produce to go to waste – and thus contribute to climate change. UpRoot tries to meet both these issues by operating on two levels: First, providing volunteer labor to harvest leftover crops and donate to food banks; and second, offering paid, on-demand workers – many of whom are veterans – for farmers that find themselves in a labor bind.

NH Gleans is group of gleaners in New Hampshire working to ensure food security in their communities. The group gathers food that would otherwise go to waste and distributes it to local food kitchens, schools, and food pantries. In the last five years they have distributed almost half a million pounds of fruits and vegetables in a state where 1 in 10 people is food insecure.

For years, campaigns to clean Nepal's polluted Bagmati River resulted in failure. Now with police and government backing, the organization Safai Abhiyaan is in its third year, attracting hundreds of volunteers who are willing to brave the polluted waters to collect trash. The program's unique approach to organizing community volunteers has been a success, but the problem will not subside until greater perceptions about litter and water pollution are tackled.

Los Angeles-based nonprofit Food Forward was born out of the observation that many farmers are growing more fruit than they can sell at market. To cut down on food waste and get these viable fruits into the hands of people that are food insecure, Food Forward operates as the "transfer point between donors and receiving agencies," while also coordinating volunteers to forage the local farms and farmers markets.