CalRecycle awards food waste prevention grants to LA organizations

Several Los Angeles (LA) organizations were singled out by the California Department of Resources Recycling and Recovery (CalRecycle), Sacramento, California, which is issuing $9.4 million as part of its Food Waste Prevention and Rescue Grant Program awards. Grant recipients include organizations working with recycLA service providers to increase food recovery in the city of Los Angeles.

LA Sanitation is currently expanding its recycling services beyond single family residences to include 80,000 commercial and apartment buildings through its new program recycLA. The program is a public-private partnership with the goal of eliminating the city's dependence on landfills and help LA achieve zero waste by 2025. Each of the seven service providers have established food rescue programs that will assist in the collection of edible food fit for human consumption and to create or develop the necessary network for delivering the food to those who need it the most.

As part of the city's new recycLA program, service providers work with local food rescue nonprofits to divert edible food from landfills and into the hands of people who need it. Several of the organizations working with recycLA service providers have been selected by CalRecycle to receive grants to continue their work in reducing food waste, including Food Finders, Lakewood, California; Food Forward, North Hollywood, California; LA Kitchen, Los Angeles; and St. Francis Center in LA. Other food rescue groups working with recycLA service providers are Waste Not Want Not Now, LA, and World Harvest Food Bank, LA.

"There are an estimated 50,000 people homeless in Los Angeles alone, so need to recover and divert food is more important than ever. Food is a recyclable resource that should not and need not be wasted," Commissioner Heather Marie Repenning, vice president of the LA Board of Public Works (BPW), says. "We're proud to be working with organizations that are assisting in getting edible food to individuals experiencing food insecurity throughout the city.”

Last year, the BPW voted unanimously to establish a Zero Food Waste Task Force to work with various city agencies and recycLA service providers to explore and promote opportunities LA to reduce food waste, increase the amount of recyclable resources and create clean, renewable energy.

"We are thrilled to hear that organizations working directly with recycLA service providers have been recognized by CalRecycle for their exemplary work," Enrique C. Zaldivar, LA sanitation director and general manager, says. "While recycling will help our city move toward achieving zero waste, food waste also plays a critical role in reducing our dependence on landfills and tackling food insecurity. In cooperation with these organizations, we are on the pathway to getting food to those who really need it most and to reducing the city's dependence on landfills."

CalRecycle administers the Food Waste Prevention and Rescue Grant Program, a competitive grant program that aims to lower overall greenhouse gas emissions by establishing new or expanding existing food waste prevention projects (source reduction or food rescue for people) in California to reduce the amount of food being disposed in landfills.