Our Work
Explore our Work:
Using the “Target, Measure, Act” framework as a foundation, the U.S. Food Waste Pact focuses its efforts on three programmatic pillars:
Data Reporting
Data is at the core of the Pact’s programming. Without food waste data, progress toward reducing food waste can’t be measured. Here’s what the Pact does through data and measurement:
Signatories of the Pact share food waste data annually, aided by ReFED’s sector-based calculators.
That data is then aggregated, anonymized, and analyzed to determine year-over-year food waste trends and establish new industry benchmarks when applicable.
This data is then published in the Pact’s annual report, published at the beginning of each year.
After the Pact’s first year in operation, it established two new national datasets: one in retail and one in foodservice. With these datasets, new baselines were set, which will be used to measure progress. As the Pact continues to expand its reach across the food system, it hopes to establish more national datasets in new sectors.
Collaborative Convenings
Working collaboratively across the supply chain is integral to making progress on food waste reduction. The Pact hosts two different kinds of convenings—topic-based Working Groups and industry-focused Sector Summits—for Pact signatories to come together and discuss best practices, common challenges, and potential pilot projects.
Working Groups
Working Groups are open to signatories from all sectors and center around a specific topic. Currently, the Pact runs three different Working Groups, and each meets virtually on a quarterly basis.
Food Recovery
This Working Group brings together signatories from all sectors who are focused on food recovery programs, initiatives, and practices in their operations. Signatories who have developed food recovery programs share lessons learned and best practices during these sessions, and ideas for potential pilot projects that focus on recovery are generated in these discussions.
Signatory Co-Chair
Kaity Robbins, Whole Foods Market
Staff Training & Engagement
This Working Group brings together signatories who are looking to engage frontline workers in food waste reduction efforts. This group shares common challenges that arise when trying to train staff and build cultures of sustainability in workplaces. Employee engagement pilot projects have shown significant progress in reducing food waste across sectors, and the ideas that have been generated by this Working Group have contributed greatly to that success.
Signatory Co-Chair
Christine Gallagher, Ahold Delhaize USA
Consumer Engagement & Environments
This Working Group is the most recent addition to this program, and the idea for it was generated by Pact signatories. According to ReFED’s latest estimates, consumers waste more food than any other sector. In addition to reducing the waste generated in their own operations, food businesses have a role to play when it comes to reducing consumer food waste. This Working Group brings signatories together to talk about best practices, new ideas, and innovative solutions to engage with consumers effectively to reduce waste.
Signatory Co-Chair
Natasha Tofil, Sprouts Farmers Market
Sector Summits
Sector Summits bring together signatories from the same sector to discuss unique challenges and opportunities to reduce food waste. Currently, the Pact runs four different Sector Summits, and each meets three to four times per year. Most meetings are virtual, but one in-person meet-up happens at the ReFED Food Waste Solutions Summit on an annual basis.
While the Pact works with signatories in more than just the following sectors, these are the four Sector Summits that are currently running:
Manufacturing & Distribution: Encompasses food manufacturers and distributors that produce, package, and distribute a wide range of food products.
Quick-service Restaurants: Includes fast food and fast casual establishments that provide limited-service dining.
Foodservice: Focuses on large foodservice companies that prepare and serve in corporate, collegiate, or other settings.
Grocery Retail: Covers traditional grocery stores, supermarkets, and other retail outlets that sell food products.
We also engage with coalition and association organizations that represent and support these respective industry sectors, such as FMI—The Food Industry Association, Health Care Without Harm, and the R&DE Stanford Food Institute.
Pilot Projects
The heart of the “Act” portion of the Pact’s foundational framework, pilot projects test and scale food waste solutions. Historically, these pilot projects have spanned solution types and sectors, from testing AI-powered inventory tracking in grocery stores to rolling out consumer messaging in multiple dining halls. Case studies of all of our completed pilot projects can be found in the Resources section.
The Pact runs pilots that explore solutions of all kinds, but there are three major project areas that have run multiple pilots and have resulted in robust suites of resources: Employee Engagement, Whole Chain, and Low-Waste Events. All three project areas have run cutting-edge pilots, many of which have led to significant reductions in food waste, established new measurement techniques, and identified scalable solutions.
Employee Engagement
The Pact’s Employee Engagement pilots aim to activate frontline workers in the fight against food waste. To date, four successful pilots have been completed, three in manufacturing (over 50% reductions in each) and one in foodservice. The Employee Engagement Toolkit compiles these learnings into resources that any business can implement to run a successful employee engagement program.
Whole Chain
To date, the Pact has run eight Whole Chain pilots. The majority of these pilots have identified waste hotspots across one commodity’s value chain, critical research to understand where waste is occurring in the supply chain and how businesses can work together to reduce it. Two pilots so far have tested solutions identified in the other pilots, with one resulting in a 55% reduction in strawberry waste.
Low-Waste Events
Low-Waste Events work in the hospitality sector has always been a high priority for the Pact. These pilots have established new measurement processes and have generated guides and practices that both venues and planners can use to work together to reduce food waste at events. The Low-Waste Events Toolkit is a resource that venues and planners can use now and will be developed further in the coming years.