At this year’s Climate Week NYC held September 22–26, business leaders from across the food system gathered to discuss the most pressing challenges facing their food waste reduction efforts—and to identify opportunities to progress toward their shared goal of preventing food from being wasted in their operations. Representatives from the U.S. Food Waste Pact were on the ground to hear from food businesses, and those conversations illuminated three key takeaways that answer the following questions:
1. What are the challenges to reducing food waste that businesses share?
Food business leaders represented every corner of the food system—from major manufacturers to large foodservice companies, trade associations, and more. Though each sector and business faces its own unique set of challenges, conversations revealed several shared obstacles. Shifting regulatory roadblocks that affect donation practices and a lack of infrastructure around waste management solutions were two examples of external factors that make it difficult for businesses to reduce food waste. Businesses also expressed shared challenges around internal factors like data measurement and technology gaps. The key takeaway was that businesses are facing the same problems—making the case for collaboration between them.
2. What is the current state of food waste reduction efforts across the supply chain?
A clear sentiment that came through discussion was that preventing food from being wasted is still relevant to business operations. First, there is a clear economic benefit to reducing food waste. According to ReFED, food surplus generated from farm to fork equated to $108 billion in lost revenue in 2023. Preventing and recovering food from going to waste ensures that food reaches people—and helps the bottom line. Additionally, regulatory shifts are encouraging solutions like donation, and consumer awareness of food waste prevention continues to grow. Efforts to address food waste can mean large, structural changes to internal operations, causing some setbacks on the rate of growth in this area. Still, food waste reduction remains top of mind for businesses, and momentum behind the movement only continues to grow.
3. Are there future opportunities to work together?
Future cross-chain collaboration was the action item that emerged from Climate Week conversations. From data visibility to commodity-level solutions, there are opportunities for businesses to learn from each other and share best practices that will result in big wins for business—and a big impact on food waste reduction. The U.S. Food Waste Pact aims to provide a space for food businesses to come together and collaborate on these shared challenges and more. The conversations started at Climate Week are just the beginning of meeting businesses where they are and working together to stop food waste once and for all.
To learn more about collaborating with business peers through the U.S. Food Waste Pact, reach out here.