Collaborate with Industry Peers to Target, Measure, and Act to Reduce Food Waste
The U.S. Food Waste Pact is a national voluntary agreement to help food businesses accelerate progress toward their waste reduction targets. It’s designed to go beyond just commitment-setting to driving meaningful action—through precompetitive collaboration and data-driven strategy across the supply chain.
What is the U.S. Food Waste Pact?
Led by national nonprofit partners ReFED and World Wildlife Fund, the U.S. Food Waste Pact is aligned around the global framework of “Target, Measure, Act” to help food businesses reduce waste within their operations through:
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Measurement and annual reporting of food waste data to the Pact.
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Participation in working groups to drive precompetitive collaboration across the value chain.
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Participation in pilot projects to test, implement, and scale cost-effective and high-impact food waste solutions.
The U.S. Food Waste Pact builds on the success of the Pacific Coast Food Waste Commitment—a public-private partnership between food businesses and jurisdictions along the West Coast of the United States to cut food waste in the region by half—and has also been inspired by similar global initiatives, including the Courtauld Commitment in the U.K. and Pacto Por La Comida in Mexico—all of which have demonstrated the benefits of businesses working together to achieve sustainability goals.
Employee Engagement Toolkit
The Employee Engagement Toolkit is an open-source portfolio of materials designed for food businesses of all kinds to pilot their own employee engagement intervention projects to address food loss and waste in their operations.
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What are the benefits of joining the U.S. Food Waste Pact?
Signatories to the Pact receive a range of benefits, including:
- Waste data analysis and assistance
- Sector-specific waste calculator
- Working groups with other signatories, and sector-specific small group convenings
- Opportunities to pilot projects led by technical experts
- Confidential peer benchmarking
- Public promotion of signatory successes
- Early access to new tools, insights, webinars, and case studies
- One-on-one food waste coaching and support
Return on Investment
Food waste reduction programs around the world have shown proven significant return on investment for all types of food businesses
Data Insights
Aggregated anonymous reporting from all signatories enables businesses to measure their progress, identify priority areas of action, and benchmark against competitors
Industry Collaboration
Precompetitive working groups offer opportunities for businesses to learn from each other’s successes, discuss solutions to shared and sector-specific challenges, and engage with government leaders through special policy roundtable discussions.
Why food waste?
In the U.S., 38% of all food goes unsold or uneaten—a $444 billion opportunity for the nation, including $250 billion for food businesses alone. Food waste is contributing 6% to our national greenhouse gas emissions and consuming more than 20% of our nation's freshwater supply, all while one in ten Americans face food insecurity. The U.S. Food Waste Pact will deliver on the urgent need for a national strategy and partnership to accelerate food waste reduction—a top solution to climate change.
Learn how your business can join!
Thank you for your interest in joining the U.S. Food Waste Pact. We are excited to work across sectors and industries to accelerate action toward our shared goal to reduce food waste. Please note that U.S. Food Waste Pact Signatories are currently limited to waste-generating food businesses. To help us better get to know you and the potential role you’re looking to play in the U.S. Food Waste Pact please answer the brief questions below: