Food: Too Good to Waste
Implementation Guide
and Toolkit
O pPA February 2016
United States
Environmental Protection r*^rt r i f f\i n A
Agency D30-r-lD-014-A
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The information contained in this Food: Too Good to Waste Implementation Guide and Toolkit is
intended to inform the public and does not establish or affect legal rights or obligations. Links
to non-EPA sites do not imply any official EPA endorsement of, or responsibility for, the
opinions, ideas, data or products presented at those sites, or guarantee the validity of the
information provided.
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Implementation Guide and Toolkit - Food: Too Good to Waste
Table of Contents
Section Page
1.0 Introduction 2
2.0 Small-Scale Campaign Strategies and Behavior Change Tools 5
3.0 Small-Scale Campaign Implementation Guidance 8
4.0 Scaling Up from Small- to Broad-Scale Campaign 13
5.0 Acknowledgements 14
Appendix A Pilot Implementation Descriptions 16
Appendix B Small-Scale Campaign Planning Guide 19
Appendix C Customizing Get Smart: Take the Challenge 20
Appendix D Toolkit 23
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Implementation Guide and Toolkit - Food: Too Good to Waste
1.0 Introduction
1.1 Purpose
The Food: Too Good to Waste (FTGTW) Implementation Guide and Toolkit is designed for
community organizations, local governments, households and others interested in reducing
wasteful household food management practices. The Implementation Guide is designed to
teach local governments and community organizations how to implement a Food: Too Good
to Waste campaign in their community using the Toolkit.
The Toolkit, which is found in Appendix D, provides behavior change and outreach tools
designed to assist individuals and households to implement strategies to reduce wasted food
in their homes. The FTGTW tools use community-based social marketing principles to reduce
wasted food from households. A Food: Too Good to Waste campaign provides the tools in the
Toolkit to families and individuals to help them keep food out of landfills and more money in
their pockets.
1.2 The Issue of Wasted Food
In the United States, approximately 31 percent or 133 billion pounds of the 430 billion pounds
of the available food supply at the retail and consumer levels in 2010 went uneaten. The total
value of this food loss is estimated at $161 billion.1
In 2013, Americans generated more than 37 million tons of food waste, 95 percent of which
was thrown away into landfills or incinerators.2 Wasted food in landfills rots and becomes a
significant source of methane, a powerful greenhouse gas. Landfills account for approximately
18 percent of all methane emissions in the U.S.3 Diverting wasted food from landfills reduces
greenhouse gas emissions. A number of other, preferable options are available for this wasted
food. Would-be-wasted-food can be donated to feed people, or composted to feed the soil.
A significant portion of this wasted food is wholesome and edible. On a per capita basis, 429
pounds of edible food went uneaten. This is astounding, considering that in 2013, 14.3 percent
of U.S. households were food insecure at some time during the year,4 meaning that all
household members did not have access at all times to enough food for an active, healthy
lifestyle.
Food truly is too good to waste.
1.3 Get Started!
1 Buzby, J. Hyman, J. Wells, H. (2014). The Estimated Amount, Value, and Calories of Postharvest Food Losses at the
Retail and Consumer Levels in the United States.
2 EPA, OSWER. (2015). Advancing Sustainable Materials Management: 2013 Fact Sheet.
3 US EPA. Inventory of U.S. Greenhouse Gas Emissions and Sinks: 1990-2012. April 2014
4 Coleman-Jenson, A. Gregory, C. Singh, A. (2014). Household Food Security in the United States in 2013
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Implementation Guide and Toolkit - Food: Too Good to Waste
If your organization is interested in reducing wasted food from households, use this
Implementation Guide to help you implement a small-scale Food: Too Good to Waste
campaign to gain experience and to find out what works best in your community. Then,
based on what you learn with the small-scale campaign, adjust as appropriate and scale it up
into a broad-based campaign!
This Implementation Guide will help you learn how to create a FTGTW campaign in your
community or your organization, and includes information and tools that provide ideas for
designing your program and getting it started.
1.4 What's Inside?
This guide provides you with detailed information on:
Designing a small-scale campaign to help you learn what works in your community.
Using the tools available to you in the FTGTW toolkit most effectively.
Engaging, recruiting, and retaining participants.
Providing great information through effective outreach and education.
Collecting your results and analyzing them in a meaningful way.
Scaling up an initial successful small-scale campaign into a broader campaign.
Examples from early pilots across the nation that will help you design your own
campaign.
1.5 FTGTW Design
EPA used Community-Based Social Marketing (CBSM) principles and information gathered
through background research and focus groups to design the FTGTW strategies and tools in
this Guide and Toolkit. The FTGTW tools use CBSM principles to reduce wasted food from
households. CBSM uses the power of social groups to encourage changes in behavior toward
a common goal. EPA piloted the FTGTW strategies and tools with a number of communities
and then refined them based on feedback from the pilots.
1.6 Community-Based Social Marketing Principles
The community based social marketing framework differs from more well-known behavior
change models in its emphasis on the social dimensions of human behavior. Organizations
considering a small-scale FTGTW campaign are encouraged to use CBSM principles whenever
possible. Additional information on CBSM is available at
1.7 Small-Scale Campaign Objectives
A FTGTW campaign aims to engage households in efforts to reduce wasted food. A small-
scale campaign helps organizations interested in wasted food reduction gain knowledge of
the wasted food issue and the CBSM approach to behavioral change. This experience is
crucial to success in scaling up the small-scale campaign to a broader campaign. This
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Implementation Guide and Toolkit - Food: Too Good to Waste
Implementation Guide focuses primarily on small-scale campaign design and
implementation, but also includes supplemental information on implementing a broader
campaign.
The small-scale campaign's measurement objectives are two-fold:
Determine Small-Scale Campaign Reach and Effectiveness: Did the campaign result in the
desired behavior changes? This includes assessments of participation rates and strategy
and tool effectiveness.
Determine Small-Scale Campaign Impact: Did the campaign result in quantifiable
reductions in wasted food?
1.8 FTGTW Campaign Design Principles
A FTGTW campaign aims to address the needs of a community by using CBSM principles and
should be designed with the following principles in mind:
Remove or minimize barriers to preferred behaviors and emphasize benefits: Making it
easy for people to measure their waste at the individual household level will objectively
demonstrate the opportunity to reduce waste and save money, resulting in greater
participant retention rates. Providing scales can help quantify the opportunity to reduce
waste.
Focus on target populations: Strategies and outreach must be tailored for your intended
audience. The strategies and tools in the toolkit have been designed specifically for
particular target populations that have the potential to achieve large waste reductions. The
choice of other target populations may require message and tool modifications.
Engage at the community level: Behavior change is strongly influenced by membership in
communities or social networks. Seek commitments to engage in behavior change in social
groups, for example in neighborhood associations, community groups, church groups, and
social networks.
Emphasize personal contact: Campaigns that use personal contact to engage participation
have greater success in recruiting and retaining participants. As noted by the Australian
Environment Protection Authority in New South Wales carrying out the Love Food Hate
Waste campaign (wwAftyovaf^^ "Media and communications helps
to create the 'buzz' around the issue yet direct outreach/education provides householders
with the skills and capacity to make the change."
Create feedback: Practice alone doesn't change behavior. Creating feedback is essential.
Measuring the amount of food going to waste provides feedback by making wasted food
and lost money visible and tangible.
Make the social norm visible: The FTGTW campaign's goal is to create a new social norm
that reducing household wasted food is a community value. Giving the new norm visibility,
for example, by publicizing participation rates, will give further momentum to a campaign.
Contextualize preferred behaviors: To motivate and sustain behavioral changes, draw the
linkages between household practices and environmental and social issues on a broader
level through stories and other means.
Speak to community values: Adapt messages and tools to the needs of the community.
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Engage the communityeven as early as the design phase. Conduct outreach through
social networks and webs of relationships important to target audiences.
Leverage existing resources: Call on communities to be resourceful in utilizing existing
networks and organizations. This encourages engagement of community-based partners
in campaign implementation.
Design for depth and breadth: To achieve significant reductions in wasted food at the
community level, target behaviors that have a significant impact at the household level
(depth) and engage a significant percentage of the general population (breadth).
Collect evidence for campaign design: Measurement provides a solid evidence base to
demonstrate the effectiveness of the FTGTW strategies and tools. This information will
help in scaling up the small-scale campaign to a broad-scale campaign.
2.0 FTGTW Small-scale Campaign Strategies and Behavior Change Tools
The FTGTW Toolkit identifies five behavior changes that have significant potential to reduce
wasted food in households, identifies strategies to achieve these behavior changes, and
provides tools based on the strategies to help people make the behavioral changes. The
tools in the FTGTW Toolkit are designed for community organizations to provide to
community members as part of their FTGTW small-scale campaign. Community members
may include households, consumers, residents, social networks and individuals. In this guide
the strategies and associated tools have been refined to reflect findings on tool
effectiveness from FTGTW pilot campaigns. Two additional outreach tools are included to
support the general strategy of raising awareness and education. The strategies and
associated tools are identified in the chart below. The tools are found in the Toolkit in
Appendix D.
Food: Too Good To Waste Strategies and Tools
Strategy
Get Smart: See
How Much Food
(and Money) You
Are Throwing Away
Smart Shopping:
Buy What You Need
Smart Storage:
Keep Fruits and
Vegetables Fresh
Smart Prep: Prep
Now, Eat Later
Smart Saving: Eat
What You Buy
Tool
Get Smart: Take the
Challenge
Smart Shopping: Shop
with Meals in Mind
Smart Storage: Fruit
and Vegetable Storage
Tips
Smart Prep: Prep
Now, Eat Later
Smart Saving: "Eat
First" Sign
Action
Behavior
Change
Behavior
Change
Behavior
Change
Behavior
Change
Behavior
Change
Purpose
Actively engage participants in
learning about how they manage
food in their household; measuring
progress
Encourage participants to plan their
food needs ahead of time and only
purchase what they will use
Provide information for participants
to safely store their food so it is good
for the meals they planned
Provide tips on saving time in the
kitchen by preparing foods ahead of
time
Visually remind participants to eat
foods while they are fresh
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Implementation Guide and Toolkit - Food: Too Good to Waste
Awareness and
Education
Fact Sheet:
"Consider the
Tomato"
Workshop
Presentation
Outreach
Outreach
Educate participants and potential
participants
Educate participants and potential
participants
2.1 Get Smart: Take the Challenge
The FTGTW Challenge asks participants to track their wasted food generation for a period
of two weeks or more before adopting new FTWGW strategies. By tracking the food they
discard in their homes, participants become aware of the often surprisingly large
quantities of food they are wasting. The Challenge actively engages participants in learning
about how they manage food in their household. Early campaigns showed that awareness
plays an integral role in motivating participants to adopt new strategies to reduce waste.
Waste aversion is a strong psychological motivator, but most households are not aware of
how much they waste and may even question if they waste food.
In addition to raising awareness about wasted food behaviors in participating households, this
tool presents an opportunity for organizations to evaluate the small-scale campaign's
effectiveness and impact.
The Get Smart: Take the Challenge tool consists of instructions and worksheets for
households to collect and measure how much food they waste over the course of a two to six
week challenge. The worksheets are used to track wasted food.
In the FTGTW Challenge, households are asked to measure the amount of food they waste.
Depending on the goals of the Challenge, wasted food may be defined to include both
preventable and non-edible wasted food, or only preventable wasted food.
Preventable wasted food is food grown or purchased (and prepared or not) but not eaten
because it is spoiled or not needed, and then thrown away.
Non-edible wasted food includes items such as egg shells, bones, fruit pits, and non-edible
peels - food parts that are typically discarded during food preparation or consumption.
Wasted food can be measured on either a volume or weight basis or both. In general, the
volume method is more easily accomplished in most households. However, the weight
method is more accurate. Campaigns may choose to provide scales as an incentive for
weight measurement.
The length of time of the Challenge, the choice between measuring waste by volume or by
weight, and the choice between tracking and collecting data on preventable and/or non-
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edible waste will depend on the implementing organization's objectives. There is a trade-off
between keeping measurement simple and how much data you wish to collect (see data
collection in Section 3.4).
Most challenges have averaged four to six weeks in length. The suggested length is six weeks
- two weeks to establish a measuring routine and four weeks to test different strategies and
create new habits. The length, however, can be varied based on campaign objectives. If the
purpose of the Challenge is to raise household awareness of wasted food in their homes, two
weeks may be a sufficient length of time.
Keep participation convenient. Recruitment and retention may be greater if scales are
offered for weighing wasted food.
2.2 Smart Shopping: Shop with Meals in Mind
The Smart Shopping: Shop With Meals in Mind tool provides an easy-to-use template for
making shopping lists that prevent food from being wasted. It is designed to encourage meal
planning and create awareness around how much food will be needed for upcoming meals.
This tool is an example of priming, where people are more likely to do something when they
are asked in this case, buying only what they reasonably expect to use until their next
shopping trip. The tool also focuses on the cost-saving benefits of using already purchased
food, communicated by the phrase, "Shop your kitchen first." This tool helps simplify food
management through meal planning.
2.3 Smart Storage: Fruit and Vegetable Storage Tips
The Smart Storage: Fruit and Vegetable Storage Tips tool is a visual prompt to remind
participants how to keep produce fresh. Prompts are particularly useful when designed to
engage people in positive behaviors and presented in close proximity to where the action takes
place. The prompt provides useful information on keeping produce fresh. It is printed in bright
colors on a half sheet suitable for posting on the refrigerator. The prompt can also be
distributed at tabling and community workshop events. In FTGTW pilots many households
found this guide to be very effective.
2.4 Smart Prep: Prep Now, Eat Later
The Smart Prep: Prep Now, Eat Later tool provides consumers helpful tips on preparing
perishable foods soon after shopping. Prepared perishables are easier to use, making
them more likely to be used later on, thus reducing waste and saving time and money.
2.5 Smart Saving: "Eat First"
The Smart Saving: "Eat First" tool is designed as a visual prompt. Households are encouraged
to designate an area in the refrigerator for food that should be eaten relatively soon to
prevent spoiling, and posting the prompt as a visual reminder.
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2.6 Awareness and Education Fact Sheet: "Consider the Tomato"
The "Consider the Tomato" tool is designed to attract attention to and raise awareness of the
issue of wasted food. It tells a story about why wasted food matters and provides context for
wasted food as an environmental and economic issue. The fact sheet can be handed out at
community events and venues, such as farmers markets and local grocery stores. It can also
be used as part of tabling at community events, which provides an opportunity for one-on-
one interaction with the public and potential FTGTW small-scale campaign participants.
Displayed in larger size, the fact sheet can be used to attract people to the table to learn more.
2.7 Awareness and Education: Workshop Presentation
The Workshop Presentation tool is designed for FTGTW campaign organizers to use to make
presentations at workshops or community meetings. The presentation can be used to
introduce the FTGTW campaign and the FTGTW tools to community members and to recruit
participants.
3.0 Small-Scale Campaign Implementation Guidance
In general, implementing a FTGTW small-scale campaign involves several overlapping steps:
design, materials preparation, outreach and recruitment, monitoring and support, data
collection, and analyzing and sharing results. To have a successful campaign, it is important to
consider the design elements discussed below.
Insight and ideas for FTGTW small-scale campaign design and implementation can be found in
Appendix A.
3.1 Small-Scale Campaign Design
Small-scale campaign design involves addressing the following design elements:
Objectives (Section 3.1.1)
Target Population and Size (Section 3.1.2)
Targeted Strategies and Tools (Section 3.1.3)
Resources (Section 3.1.4)
Time Frame and Small-Scale campaign Duration (Section 3.1.5)
Outreach and Community Partners (Section 3.3)
Information Collection and Analysis (Section 3.4)
Appendix B provides a checklist of questions to inform the design of your small-scale campaign.
3.1.1 Identifying Implementing Organization's Objectives
In order to gather internal support for a FTGTW campaign, organizations should consider how
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the campaign aligns with their organization's long-term objectives. Examples of well-aligned
longer-term objectives include reducing solid waste management costs, reducing carbon
footprint or building a sustainable food system. Clear objectives will also help to allocate
small-scale campaign resources effectively.
Depending on the organization, it may take up to several months to obtain leadership buy-in
and allocate the necessary resources for a FTGTW campaign.
3.1.2 Selecting Target Population and Sample Size
The target population refers to the broader demographic that the implementing
organization hopes to impact with the FTGTW campaign. The sample size refers to the
number of households that actively participate in the small-scale campaign. Generally,
the target population size is larger than the sample size.
A number of considerations go into selecting a target population and sample size, including:
the demographics of the population the campaign is designed to reach,
the type and amount of resources the implementing organization has available,
the time frame planned for the campaign, and
the implementing organization's objectives for the campaign.
The sample size for the small-scale campaign should be large enough to draw conclusions
relative to the implementing organization's objectives for a broad-based campaign.
In selecting your target population, be aware that the FTGTW messaging and strategies were
crafted for two principal target populations: families with young children, and young adults
(ages approximately from 18 to 30). If your organization chooses to focus on an alternative
demographic you should consider whether the existing tools and messaging are appropriate
for your selected demographic.
As noted in Section 1.7 on design principles, to achieve significant reductions in wasted food at
the community level, it is necessary to engage and sustain behaviors that have a substantial
impact at the household level (depth) as well as engage a significant percentage of the general
population in adopting the behaviors (breadth).
3.1.3 Choosing Targeted Behaviors and Tools
The FTGTW toolkit identifies five behavior changes with significant potential to reduce wasted
food in households and provides tools that can be used to achieve these behavioral changes, as
well as to raise awareness of the issue of wasted food. Organizations designing a FTGTW small-
scale campaign may choose to focus on one or more of the behavior change strategies, or may
use them all.
It is recommended that careful consideration be given to choosing the strategies to include in
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the small-scale campaign based on budget, intended reach and objectives.
3.1.4 Allocating Resources
The FTGTW toolkit provides the essential materials for a FTGTW small-scale campaign.
Implementing organizations should carefully consider what supporting resources, including
staff and volunteer time, are available or could be provided by partners and other
organizations. Planners should develop a budget of funds and other resources.
Implementation costs include printing costs, costs of measurement bags used in the Challenge
(if provided), and staff time. In addition, providing incentive items to engage individual
households may be considered and would require resources. For example, food scales may be
used as incentives. Scales also provide accurate data on the impact of the behavior changes.
Staff time for a small-scale campaign may include time spent:
gaining organizational approval,
modifying the tools for local use,
preparing materials,
conducting outreach and follow-up, and
evaluating and disseminating small-scale campaign results.
For more information on how much time might be required for various tasks refer to the
FTGTW pilot descriptions in Appendix A.
In many cases local government will take the lead in implementing the FTGTW campaign.
Other community organizations may also take the lead, may participate as partners, and may
provide additional resources.
Potential partners include:
Interested government programs may include waste management, climate change
response, and food programs.
Civic or community groups and non-profits may have constituencies who are in the
target audience or who have an interest in related issues. These organizations are
able to do outreach through their social networks.
Food purveyors (restaurants, groceries) and other businesses may assist with
outreach and also provide incentive goods.
Farmers markets, community supported agriculture (CSA) businesses and municipal
waste management companies are also likely partners.
Schools may wish to integrate information on wasted food prevention into their
curriculum and colleges and universities often support sustainability programs aimed
at the young adult demographic.
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3.1.5 Timing and Length of Small-Scale Campaign
The overall length of a small-scale campaign may range from four to eight months. This
includes time for planning, adapting and preparing materials, outreach and recruiting
households, engaging households during the FTGTW Challenge, follow-up and analysis, and
results dissemination. The pilot descriptions in Appendix A include information on how long it
took organizations to perform various tasks.
It is recommended that FTGTW campaigns not be scheduled to coincide with major holiday
periods as this is likely to reduce consistent participation.
3.2 Tools Preparation
Time should be allotted for adapting the FTGTW behavior change and outreach tools to the
organization's specific needs. It is important to begin sufficiently in advance of your outreach
start date. Tool modifications should be carefully vetted to ensure that they are consistent with
the organization's objectives and provide meaningful feedback.
The choice of measurement tools for the Get Smart: Take the Challenge is an important
consideration. The waste collection container should preferably be transparent with markings
on the outside of the container. Appendix C discusses potential modifications to the Get Smart:
Take the Challenge measurement bag tool, instructions and worksheet.
Particular attention should be given to modifying the instructions to households for taking the
challenge. Even small changes can have unintended consequences. For example, discarding the
instruction to measure cumulative waste at the end of each week could prevent comparing or
averaging the amounts from different households.
3.3 Outreach, Recruitment and Retention
A major task of FTGTW campaign implementation is outreach and recruitment. Outreach
plans should address appropriate communication channels, venues and community partners
for reaching the intended target audience. Two CBSM principles that govern successful
outreach and challenge recruitment plans are delivering at the community level and
emphasizing personal contact. A good rule of thumb in household recruitment and retention
is to engage early and often.
The value of personal contact in influencing people to attempt new behaviors is well
established in the CBSM literature. The likelihood of a commitment to adopt new behaviors is
much greater in the case of personal contact. This is even more strongly reinforced when the
person making the contact has influence in the person's social network. Personal recruitment
can be reinforced through additional forms of communication, such as mail and email.
Implementing organizations are encouraged to think about outreach to target audiences
through social networks (or webs of relationships) in addition to through traditional media.
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Engaging households through participant gatherings/workshops that include food and/or
beverages may be a successful strategy. In addition to providing an excellent opportunity to
present wasted food strategies and distribute tools, these gatherings reinforce the social
nature of the FTGTW campaign by encouraging behavior change through membership and
network commitment. Workshop participants can be encouraged to share personal
experiences with wasted food, which is a form of social learning. Suggested settings and key
engagement steps for recruiting participants are outlined in Figure 1.
Figure 1: Key engagement steps for recruiting challenge participants.
Sign people and
record participation
In person
Through organization
Class Project
Through social media
FTGTW
Challenge
Instruct people
and provide tools
\\
\
In person
Through email
Workshops
Tabling
Tabling at community events presents an opportunity to recruit challenge participants. Clear
objectives for tabling efforts will help in preparation, including likely numbers of public
interactions. You may want to contact the event organizers to learn about expected event
traffic. You may wish to share materials such as the storage guide, shopping list template
and/or the Challenge awareness/measurement tool, as well as a more general informational
piece on your program or on the wasted food issue.
A key way to increase household retention is to reduce barriers to participation. How the
implementing organization decides to do this depends on available resources. Besides
providing printed behavior change tools, organizations may consider distributing scales to
measure wasted food, and/or bins in which to place the measurement bags. Incentives may
also play a role in increased retention rates. For example, offering grocery coupons or prizes
may encourage participation.
3.4 Follow-up Information and Analysis
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Information that may guide and improve campaigns are described below.
Outreach: Record your observations about the effectiveness of outreach methods used.
Tabling: Record how many people attended the event and the number of table
engagements by type. Examples include: how many people took a handout; how many had
a conversation with table staff/volunteers; how many signed up for the Challenge.
Workshop: Record how many people were invited to the workshop, what you know
about their demographics, and how many actually attended the workshop.
Additional information used by implementing organizations may include:
Observational and demographic information from household participants for calculating
effectiveness.
Household measurements of wasted food amounts for calculating impact.
By conducting a FTGTW Challenge, organizations can determine the campaign's impact at the
household level. The goal is to determine whether the campaign resulted in a quantifiable
reduction in wasted food for the participating households relative to their baseline amounts.
Organizations can calculate impact by comparing the average amount wasted in the initial
weeks to the average for the final week.
Participant observations are a rich source of qualitative data that can be used to convey the
significance of wasted food awareness to a wider audience and thereby create a new social
standard around behaviors that reduce wasted food.
For clear results, organizations should carefully plan their household data collection prior to
launching the challenge. It is recommended that the organization develop a spreadsheet for
recording data linked to the reporting mechanism, for example, a web-based survey service.
Challenge participants will find it easier to report results if data collection instructions are
reviewed with them at the start of the Challenge. Higher retention rates may be associated
with frequent data collection.
4.0 Moving from Small- to Broad-Scale Campaign
When designing a broad-scale campaign, consider how the small-scale campaign results
inform the direction and specific content of the campaign. In a broad-scale campaign, the
organization's long-term objectives also come into play. How wasted food prevention
complements and integrates with existing programs and helps to meet the organization's
goals should be considered.
Good messaging is an important element in the successful integration of FTGTW messages with
existing programs. For example, in integrating wasted food prevention with compost collection
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programs, wasted food prevention should be discussed first, before composting, to give waste
prevention the proper emphasis.
Scaling small-scale campaigns up to broad-scale campaigns involves moving from a depth
approach to one that emphasizes both breadth and depth. This involves raising the visibility of
the wasted food issue at the community level, usually with some type of broad-based media
and outreach activities.
To gauge the overall effectiveness of a broad-scale campaign the organization should
assess the community's awareness of wasted food as an issue and identify appropriate
measures of behavior change and reduced waste.
5.0 Acknowledgements
The original 2012 Food: Too Good To Waste Toolkit, on which this document is based, was
developed for the United States Environmental Protection Agency under contract with
EcoPraxis, Colehour+Cohen and Tetra Tech EMI; Contract #EP-W-13-002.
The EPA acknowledges the outstanding support and collaboration of the West Coast Climate
Forum in sharing their experiences, which informed the development of the original
document. Special thanks go to members of the West Coast Climate Forum from state and
local governments who supported and shared their experience.
The following are acknowledged for their invaluable contributions:
Dr. Viki Sonntag, EcoPraxis
Julie Colehour and Amanda Godwin, Colehour+ Cohen
Joanna Canepa and Tommie Jean, Tetra Tech EMI
Project and Planning Team Lead: Ashley Zanolli, EPA Region 10
EPA Project Planning Team:
o EPA Region 10: Theresa Blaine, Christina Colt, Bill Dunbar, Lisa McArthur, Sandra
Poulson, Viccy Salazar, and Melissa Winters, Daniel Brody (NNEMS fellow), Megan
Curtis-Murphy, McKenna Morrigan, and Veronica Pardo and Dore Mangan (intern)
o EPA Region 9: Shannon Davis and Andre Villasenor
o EPA Headquarters (OSWER): Linda Barr, John Cross, and Jean Schwab
State and Government Partners:
o Minnestota Pollution Control Agency, Madalyn Cioci and Colleen Hetzel
o Oregon Dept. of Environmental Quality, David Allaway and Leslie Kochan
o Washington Department of Agriculture, Chery Sullivan
o Washington Department of Ecology, Michelle Andrews and Mary Harrington
Local Government Partners
o Boulder County (CO), Lisa Friend
o City of Chula Vista (CA), David Didonato and Lynn France
o City of Gresham (OR), Karen Guillen-Chapman and Tristen Whitehead
o City of Oakland (CA), Mark Gigliardi and Wanda Redic
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o City of Portland (OR), Lauren Morris, Alicia Polacok, and Arianne Sperry
o City of Redmond (WA), Stacy Auer
o City of Santa Monica (CA), Shannon Parry
o City of Seattle (WA), Jeanie Boawn and Sharon Lerman
o City of Tacoma (WA), Jetta Antonakos
o City of Vancouver (WA), Tanya Gray
o King County (WA), Josh Marx and Karen May
o Oregon Metro (OR), Jennifer Erikson and Meg Lynch
o Palo Alto (CA), Wendy Hediger and Matt Krupp
o San Benito County (CA), Lisa Jensema and Mandy Rose
o Seattle Public Utilities (WA), Veronica Fincher and Carl Woestwin
o Snohomish County (WA), Sego Jackson
o Thurston County (WA), Brian Stafki
Other acknowledgements
o Eureka Recycling (MN Grantee), Lynn Hoffman
o FoodShift, Dana Frasz
o Goteborgs Universitet, Gothenburg, Sweden, Alexandra Lavers
o GRACE Communications Foundation, Chris Hunt
o Green Cities CA, Carol Misseldine
o International Council for Local Environmental Initiatives (ICLEI), Monica Gilchrist
o Jonathan Bloom, author
o Kupu, HI, Nichole Chatterson
o Naropa University, Santiago Giraldo Anduaga
o Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC), Dana Gunders
o UK WRAP (United Kingdom Waste and Resources Action Programme), Andrew Parry
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Implementation Guide and Toolkit - Food: Too Good to Waste
The following community and local government pilot descriptions share insight and ideas for
FTGTW small-scale campaign design and implementation. The experiences of these, and other
pilots contributed to the design of FTGTW and the descriptions include observations about
successes and barriers the communities encountered. Note that all of the FTGTW pilots chose to
introduce all the strategies in connection with the FTGTW Challenge.
KinR County. WashinRton
Objectives: Reducing wasted food is a priority for King County in its effort to achieve Zero Waste
and climate action goals, since food accounts for 14 percent of the County's consumption-based
Greenhouse Gas emissions. The specific aim of the King County pilot was to test the effectiveness
of the pilot messaging and tools in reducing wasted food and to gauge the impact of a CBSM
campaign based on these results.
Target Population and Sample Size: The target audience for the King County implementation
was families with small children. The pilot was introduced to 110 families with a child enrolled in
the 4th grade at the public elementary school in Fall City, a town between rural and urban zones
with a population of approximately 2,000.
Targeted Behaviors: During the pilot, all five waste prevention behaviors were introduced to
the families.
Tools Used in Pilot: This pilot used both the Shopping List Template and the Fruit and Storage
Guide tools. They also structured the pilot around a modified Challenge as described under the
subheading "Implementation Choices." In addition, King County developed several other tools
including: a Top Five Ways to Waste Less Food information sheet; Packing a Waste Free Lunch tip
sheet; a blog to keep families informed and motivated; a Food: Too Good to Waste daily tip
PowerPoint presentation by the teacher; and a Learn More resource list.
Community Partners: King County partnered with a local elementary school through their
Green Schools Program. The marketing firm of Colehour and Cohen who have special
expertise in CBSM campaigns in developing and implementing their pilot assisted them.
Length of Pilot: The participant engagement period lasted approximately two months,
including time to recruit and assess and acknowledge the families' participation. The length of
the Challenge was five weeks.
Implementation Choices: The invitation to participate in the Get Smart: Take the Challenge
was sent via email to the families of the 4th grade children. A King County representative then
visited the classroom to explain to the students why wasted food is bad for the environment
and household economics and distributed the measurement tools (bag and weekly
worksheets). The teachers incorporated new messages into curricula each week with daily
16
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Implementation Guide and Toolkit - Food: Too Good to Waste
tips/facts. The first week waste collection served to establish a baseline for the volume of food
going to waste. Both preventable and non-edible wasted food items were collected in the
same measurement bag to simplify the process. At the start of the second week of the pilot, all
five pilot strategies were introduced. Thereafter, tools were introduced one at a time at one-
week intervals. Students were also presented a daily wasted food reduction tip. All families
who completed the challenge were given recognition certificates and entered in a drawing for
grocery store gift cards.
Observations: The tools were well received and gave King County confidence in the overall
messaging. Students and parents were especially influenced and surprised by how much food
(and money) could be saved as a result of simple strategies. As a result of this finding, the county
will emphasize potential savings in their broad-scale campaign. On average, families that
participated all five weeks reduced their wasted food by 28 percent. However, a "challenge"
where people are required to measure waste and report is great for raising awareness but is
onerous. Incentives may help to reduce this barrier to participation. In King County teachers
assigned homework and the county offered a prize for participation, but still many families did
not follow through. During the pilot, King County didn't have a lot of local resources to give
people, so in the full-scale campaign they are putting emphasis on improving the website for King
County and including more info about why it's important.
Honolulu, Hawaii
Objectives: The City and County of Honolulu (CCH) are interested in wasted food management
solutions that would both lower the costs of landfilling as well as offset the cost of importing
food to the island. The Honolulu pilot sought to test CBSM wasted food reduction strategies and
tools including a cookbook with local chef-contributed recipes and wasted food prevention tips.
It also aimed to see if there was a connection between preventable wasted food and the number
of meals outside the home. The cookbook is available at
Target Population and Sample Size: Out of approximately 210 emails sent, 17 households were
recruited to participate in a four-week challenge. The principal audience was young adults
although two households had individuals in their fifties and two households had children. The
average age of participants was 34.
Targeted Behaviors: All five behaviors were tested but the "Buy What You Need" strategy
was combined with the "Make a Shopping List with Meals in Mind" strategy and relabeled
"Smart Shopping." In addition, households were encouraged to test recipes for using up
leftover ingredients.
Tools Used in Pilot: The Workshop Presentation was used to introduce the Get Smart: Take
the Challenge to the household participants. Behavior support tools included: a food storage
guide developed by Eureka Recycling; a menu planner used in the Australian campaign; an "Eat
First" prompt; and a cookbook containing recipes for using up leftover ingredients developed by
local chefs.
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Implementation Guide and Toolkit - Food: Too Good to Waste
Community Partners: Alexander Lavers researched, directed and managed the pilot in
fulfillment of a Master degree in Environmental Sciences from the University of Gothenburg,
Sweden.
Length of Pilot: The total elapsed time of the pilot was four months. Recruitment took
approximately three weeks, while the length of the Challenge was four weeks. Adapting,
preparing and purchasing materials for the challenge took three weeks as did the data analysis.
In addition, the project organizer spent several months coordinating the cookbook's
development with the contributing restaurants, the graphic designer, and the county.
Implementation Choices: Recruitment was made by email using personal contacts in two
social networks, the Recycling Branch of the Refuse Division of CCH and a Honolulu running
club. Challenge participants were asked to measure preventable and non-edible wasted food
for two weeks after which they measured both types of waste for an additional two weeks
while trying wasted food reduction strategies. Non-pilot study cookbook recipients will
receive an option to fill out a survey on their experience with the cookbook/toolkit; in return
for their responses they will receive a coupon to a restaurant featured in the cookbook.
Observations: Participation and retention was facilitated by early and frequent engagement.
Pilot participants saw a 19.6 percent reduction in preventable wasted food in weeks using wasted
food prevention strategies compared to baseline weeks. Households that did not see a reduction
in wasted food had irregular events that affected their success. There was significant variability in
the wasted food collection data possibly related to age. Older participants started with less
wasted food. Households with members aged 28 to 34 achieved the largest reduction but started
with more waste.
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Implementation Guide and Toolkit - Food: Too Good to Waste
Appendix B: Food: Too Good to Waste Small-Scale Campaign Planning Guide
You can use the following questions as a checklist for small-scale campaign planning.
Objectives (Section 3.1.1)
1. How is this small-scale campaign relevant to your community/government organization's
goals and objectives?
2. What are your small-scale campaign goals and objectives?
3. What is your experience with CBSM?
4. Who within your organization needs to give approval to the small-scale campaign?
Target Population and Sample Size (Section 3.1.2)
1. Who is your target audience and why?
2. How large is your sample size?
3. Does the sample size reflect an acceptable trade-off between depth and breadth relative
to your organization's objectives?
4. Do the sample demographics reflect your target audience in the larger population?
Targeted Strategies and Tools (Section 3.1.3):
1. What strategies and tools are you choosing to target?
Resources (Section 3.1.4):
1. What is the proposed budget for the small-scale campaign?
2. How much staff time is allocated for the small-scale campaign?
3. What additional tools and resources do you have to support implementation?
4. Who are your community partners, if any?
Time Frame and Small-Scale campaign Implementation Length (Section 3.1.5):
1. What is your timeline/timeframe for implementing this small-scale campaign?
2. How long is your small-scale campaign implementation (period in which you engage
households)?
Outreach and Community Partners (Section 3.3):
1. What is your outreach and recruitment strategy?
2. How will you keep participants engaged in the small-scale campaign?
3. How often do you plan to engage directly with participants?
4. Will the small-scale campaign be implemented as part of an existing program(s)? How
will this affect outreach?
5. Have you identified community partners to help with this effort? How will they help?
6. Are you offering incentives as part of your outreach or engagement strategy?
Data Collection (Section 3.4):
1. How much data will you collect?
2. What types of data will you collect?
3. How does this data serve your small-scale campaign objectives?
4. What systems do you need to put in place to collect this data?
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Implementation Guide and Toolkit - Food: Too Good to Waste
C: Customizing Get Smart: Take the
This appendix discusses potential modifications to the Get Smart: Take the Challenge
measurement bag tool, instructions and worksheet. Any changes in wording of the instructions
should be carefully vetted to ensure that they are consistent with the desired outcomes.
The default instructions for taking the FTGTW Challenge are:
Households measure their waste for six weeks with a two week baseline period.
Households collect and measure preventable waste.
Households measure both the volume and weight of wasted food.
The community partner provides households a kitchen scale.
Households can try any strategy or set of strategies.
The community partner is the contact for assistance and to return results.
Length of Challenge: The tool, instructions and worksheet will all need to be modified if you
select a different time length for the challenge or for the baseline data collection period. A
minimum of six weeks is recommended to establish patterns but four-week challenges have
been successful. A longer period will help to solidify patterns but may affect your retention
rate.
Type of Wasted Food Collected: The instructions will need to be modified if you choose to have
households collect something other than the preventable fraction. Collecting the preventable
fraction focuses the household on that portion of wasted food they can prevent. Collecting all
wasted food may present an opportunity to compare the results to per capita averages.
Types of Measurements Taken: The instructions and worksheet will need to be modified if you
elect not to take weight measurements.
Number and Types of Strategies Tested: The instructions will need to be modified if you choose
to focus on select strategies or change the set of strategies. Also, if you are introducing new
tools you will want to change the list at the bottom of the first page of the instructions.
Kitchen Scale Provided: The instructions and the worksheet will need to be modified if scales are
not provided. However, if you plan to have the household measure weights with their own
scales, then you will just need to remove the scales from the list of materials provided at the
bottom of the first page of the instructions.
Contact for Assistance: There is a space in the instructions for the community partner to put
in their contact information.
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Implementation Guide and Toolkit - Food: Too Good to Waste
D:
Get Smart: Take the Challenge
Smart Shopping: Shop with Meals in Mind
Smart Storage: Fruit and Vegetable Storage Tips
Smart Prep: Prep Now, Eat Later
Smart Saving: "Eat First" Sign
Fact Sheet: "Consider the Tomato"
Workshop Presentation
21
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GET SMART: TAKE THE CHALLENGE
KEEP GOOD FOOD FROM GOING TO WASTE
WHAT IS THE CHALLENGE?
Did you know that in 2013 Americans threw 35 million tons of food into landfills and incinerators? Research
shows that nearly everyone wastes more than they think they do. The Food: Too Good to Waste Challenge
will help you figure out how much food is really going to waste in your home and what you can do to waste
less. By making small shifts in how you shop for, prepare, and store food, you can save time and money, and
keep the valuable resources used to produce and distribute food from going to waste!
WHAT DO YOU NEED?
You only need a few basic tools to get started, which include 1) a pen/pencil, 2) paper or printed worksheets,
3) small garbage bags, and 4) a small scale (optional).
GET SMART: SEE HOW MUCH FOOD (AND MONEY) YOU ARE REALLY THROWING AWAY
WEEKS 1 & 2: Measure how much food your family wastes in a week and record the volume and/or weight.
WEEKS 3 through 5: Try out one or more of the smart strategies listed below while continuing to measure how
much goes to waste each week. Keep notes on what works to reduce food waste and what doesn't.
Smart Shopping: Buy What You Need - Make a shopping list with the Meals-ln-Mind Shopping List
template based on how many meals you expect to eat at home before your next shopping trip. By
buying no more than what you expect to use, you will be more likely to use it up and keep it fresh.
Smart Storage: Keep Fruits and Vegetables Fresh - Store produce so it stays fresh longer with the help
of the Fruits and Vegetable Storage Guide.
Smart Prep: Prep Now, Eat Later - By preparing perishable foods as soon as possible, preferably post
shopping, you'll make it easier to serve snacks and meals later in the week, saving time, effort and
money.
Smart Saving: Eat What You Buy - This involves being mindful of leftovers and old ingredients that
need using up. The "Eat First" prompt can be used to designate an area in your refrigerator for
leftovers and food that won't keep long.
Week 6: Measure and record your final weekly food waste amount. See how much food (and money) you
saved compared to weeks one and two.
GET READY
You can find all the printed materials you need to take the FTGTW Challenge available for download at
http://www2.epa.gov/sustainable-management-food
They include:
This instruction sheet which includes the recording worksheet.
Meals in Mind Shopping List Template
Fruit and Vegetable Storage Guide
Eat Me First Prompt
-------
GET SMART: TAKE THE CHALLENGE
KEEP GOOD FOOD FROM GOING TO WASTE .
TIPS FOR TAKING THE CHALLENGE
1. Explain the challenge to members of your household/community and ask for their participation.
2. At the start of each week, line one paper bag with a green compostable bag. Over the course of the
week, place all your PREVENTABLE food waste into the bag. Discard NON-EDIBLE food in the usual
manner. (PREVENTABLE food waste is both food you bought to eat but has since spoiled and food that
was prepared but not eaten and was then thrown away. NON-EDIBLE food waste is everything you
wouldn't normally eat, such as banana peels, egg shells, apple cores and chicken bones.)
3. At the end of each week, measure both the weight and the volume of food waste in the bag. Record
both the volume and the weight for the week on the attached worksheet. Once you get started, it
should take no more than 15 minutes a week to measure and record your food waste.
4. If the bag fills before the end of seven days, weigh or record the volume of the full bag and record how
many days you collected food in that bag. Then begin collection in a new bag. At the end of the week,
total your weight and/or volume of food waste for the entire week.
5. After you record the weight and volume of food wasted for the week, dispose of the collection bag,
including food, appropriately and as acceptable for your collection service, by composting, through
organics collection or in the garbage.
6. Except for the new strategies you try starting in week 3, keep to your usual routine as much as possible
during the challenge. For example, unless you regularly clean out your freezer, do not clean it
throughout the challenge.
7. At the end of week 6, compare your totals for weeks 1 and 2 to weeks 3 through 6 and see how much
food you saved from going to waste! Many families have reduced their food waste by 25% or more.
ADDITIONAL WASTE COLLECTION TIPS:
If you are concerned about leakage, then you might use a plastic bag as a second liner.
If concerned about odor, you can clip the top of the bag shut; or you can start using a new bag mid-
week, as long as you track the total volume of waste for the whole week.
Do not collect liquid waste such as soup or food-soiled paper products.
AFTER THE CHALLENGE
Once you've completed the challenge, share your successes and lessons learned with other individuals or
organizations who may be interested in reducing wasted food.
For more information on sustainable management of food, please visit
http://www.epa.gov/sustainable-management-food
k United States
Environmental Protection
Agency
EPA-530-F-014-B
&EPAI
EPA-530-F-014-
February 2016
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GET SMART: TAKE THE CHALLENGE
KEEP GOOD FOOD FROM GOING TO WASTE
RECORDING WORKSHEET
WEEK1
Start Date:
Bag Volume
# of days collected
Day of Week:
Weight
WEEK 2
Start Date:
Bag Volume
# of days collected
Day of Week:
Weight
Totals-Weeks land 2
Bag Volume
. Weight
NOTES (WHAT GOES TO WASTE AND WHY)
NOTES (WHAT GOES TO WASTE AND WHY)
Averages - Weeks 1 and 2
Total Volume H- 2 = Total Weight H- 2 :
WEEKS
Start Date:
Bag Volume
# of days collected
Day of Week:
Weight
WEEK 4
Start Date:
Bag Volume
# of days collected
Day of Week:
Weight
WEEKS
Start Date:
Bag Volume
# of days collected
Day of Week:
Weight
WEEKS
Start Date:
Bag Volume
# of days collected
Day of Week:
Weight
Totals - Weeks 3 through 6
Bag Volume Weight
NOTES (WHAT WORKS, WHAT DOESN'T)
NOTES (WHAT WORKS, WHAT DOESN'T)
NOTES (WHAT WORKS, WHAT DOESN'T)
NOTES (WHAT WORKS, WHAT DOESN'T)
Averages - Weeks 3 through 6
Total Volume 4- 4 = Total Weight 4- 4 =
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SMART SH
p with Me
in Mind
Think about how many meals you'll eat at home this week and how long before
your next shopping trip.
Next to fresh items on the list, note the quantity you need or number of meals
you're buying for.
Shop your kitchen first and note items you already have.
FOOD ITEM AMOUNT NEEDED ALREADY HAVE
Salad greens Lunch for a week Enough for one lunch
2% milk Gallon NONE
United States
Environmental Protection
Agency
EPA-530-16-F-014-C
February 2016
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SMART STORAGE:
Know which fruits and vegetables stay fresh
longer inside or outside the fridge.
By storing them for maximum freshness, they
will taste better and last longer.
&EPA
United States
Environmental Protection
Agency
EPA-530-F-014-D
February 2016
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FRUIT AND VEGETABLE STORAGE GUIDE
INSIDE THE FRIDGE
Apples, berries, and cherries
Grapes, kiwi, lemons, and oranges
Melons, nectarines, apricots, peaches, and
plums (after ripening at room temperature)
Avocados, pears, tomatoes
(after ripening at room temperature)
Almost all vegetables and herbs
OUTSIDE THE FRIDGE
Bananas, mangos, papayas, and
pineapples: store in a cool place
Potatoes / onions: store in
a cool, dark place
Basil and winter squashes:
store at room temperature
once cut, store squashes in fridge
MORE STORAGE TIPS
If you like your fruit at room temperature, take what you will eat for the day out of the fridge in the morning.
Many fruits give off natural gases that hasten the spoilage of other nearby produce. Store bananas, apples, and
tomatoes by themselves and store fruits and vegetables in different bins.
Consider storage bags and containers designed to help extend the life of your produce.
To prevent mold, wash berries just before eating.
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SMART PREP: PREP NOW, EAT LATER
Prepare perishable foods soon after shopping.
It will be easier to whip up meals later in the
week, saving time, effort, and money.
EPA-530-16-F-014-E
February 2016
HELPFULTIPS
When you get home from the store, take the time to wash,
dry, chop, dice, slice, and place your fresh food items in clear
storage containers for snacks and easy cooking.
Befriend your freezer and visit it often. Freeze food such as
bread, sliced fruit, or meat that you know you won't be able to
eat in time.
Cut your time in the kitchen by preparing and freezing meals
ahead of time.
Prepare and cook perishable items, then freeze them for use
throughout the month. For example, bake and freeze chicken
breasts or fry and freeze taco meat.
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Smart Saving:
EPA-530-16-F-014-F
February 2016
Smart Saving:
EPA-530-16-F-014-F
February 2016
-------
UP WIT
HEWA
-ODD?
CONSIDER THE TOMATO...
31% of fresh tomatoes bought by U.S. households are
thrown outthat's 21 tomatoes a year per person!
Throwing out that many
tomatoes costs us a bundle
3 over $2.3 billion a year.
BILLION If only it was just tomatoes...
the cost of all U.S. household
food waste = $166 BILLION!
WASTED FOOD = WASTED RESOURCES
U.S. FOOD WASTE ACCOUNTS FOR:
25%
of all
our fresh
water use.
Enough
energy to
power the
country for
more than
a week.
Enough
land to feed
the world's
hungry.
By making small shifts in how we shop, store, and prepare food, we
can keep the valuable resources used to produce and distribute food
from going to waste.
Sources: USDA Economic Research Service,(ERS) Total and Per Capita Value of Food Loss in the United State (2012); USDA ERS , The Value of Retail- and Consumer-
Level Fruit and Vegetable Losses in the United States (2011); Venkat, The Climate Change and Economic Impacts of Food Waste in the United States (2012): Hall et al, The
Progressive Increase of Food Waste in America and Its Environmental Impacts (2009)
&EPA
United States
Environmental Protection
Agency
EPA-530-16-F-014-H
February 2016
-------
A WORKSHOP
AEPA
Enviionmamal Protection
Agency
[Presenter]
[Date]
EPA-530-014-G
February 2016
Before the Workshop:
Add presenter's name and affiliation; date of workshop; and logos of pilot partners to
slide 1.
Print handouts for attendees (Suggest three slides to a page in black/white for taking
notes and printing double sided.)
Opening the Workshop and Overview of the Pilot: 2 minutes
Welcome people and thank them for coming.
The Food Too Good to Waste Campaign is a collaborative effort of [your organization],
[the EPA], and [other organizations] concerned about the impacts of wasted food. Our
role is to engage households in efforts to reduce wasted food through workshops such as
this one. We do this in part by utilizing the tools available to us in the Food: Too Good To
Waste Toolkit.
-------
The information contained in this FTGTW
Implementation Guide and Toolkit is intended to
inform the public and does not establish or
affect legal rights or obligations. Links to non-EPA
sites do not imply any official EPA endorsement
of, or responsibility for, the opinions, ideas, data
or products presented at those sites, or
guarantee the validity of the information
provided.
Disclaimer language
-------
Workshop Purpose
Examine the problem of
wasted food including:
How much goes to waste
Why waste happens
Why waste matters
Strategies to reduce waste
Less than 1 minute
Today we will be discussing the issue of wasted food including
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Purpose
By making small shifts in how
we shop, store and prepare food,
we can toss less, eat well,
simplify our lives, save money
and keep the valuable resources
used to produce and distribute
food from going to waste.
1 minute
The premise behind the FTGTW campaign is that by making small changes in our food
management behaviors, we can have a large impact, both for ourselves and for the
environment and our communities.
4
-------
Introductions
Introduce yourself by:
Giving your name
Telling a short story that
illustrates why you care about
wasted food
15 to 20 minutes
Depending on whether you have a small or larger number of people attending the
workshop, there are two options for introductions.
8 people or less:
Let everyone introduce themselves to the group as a whole. Keep introductions to 2
minutes or less.
8 or more:
Have people pair off to introduce themselves to each other. Give each person 2 to 3
minutes each. After they finish, have a few people share their stories with the group as a
whole.
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HOW MUCH FOOD
IS WASTED?
6
Less than 1 minute
Let's start by looking at how much food is wasted.
***************************
In the United States, 31 percentor 133 billion poundsof the 430 billion pounds of the
available food supply at the retail and consumer levels in 2010 went uneaten.
The estimated total value of food loss at the retail and consumer levels in the United States
was $161.6 billion in 2010. The top three food groups in terms of share of total value of
food loss were meat, poultry, and fish (30 percent, $48 billion); vegetables (19 percent, $30
billion); and dairy products (17 percent, $27 billion).
-------
Food accounts for 21% of the
American waste stream
3 minutes
Currently, in the United States it is estimated that more than 30% of edible food goes to waste.
In 2013, 37 million tons of food waste were generated, of which only 1.84 million tons (5%) was
recovered, resulting in 35 million tons going into the nation's landfills and incinerators. Food is the
largest stream of municipal solid waste (MSW) materials going to discard, accounting for 21% of the
American waste stream.
Wasted Food occurs all along the food value chain - from farm to fork.
For example, food is sometimes left in the fields because it costs more to harvest than what it
could be sold for.
Food that travels long distances is more likely to perish in route.
At the retail level, food is wasted when grocery stores or restaurants buy more of a perishable
food item than they can sell.
In this workshop, we will focus on wasted food in the household.
Sources:
Buzby, Jean, Wells, Hodan and Jeffrey Hyman. "The Estimated Amount, Value, and Calories of Postharvest Food Losses at the Retail and Consumer Levels in
the United States." USDA, Economic Research Service. Economic Information Bulletin Number 121. February 2014
U.S. EPA. Advancing Sustainable Materials Management: 2013 Fact Sheet. Assessing Trends in Material Generation, Recycling and Disposal in the United
States. June 2015
Gustavsson, Jenny, Christel Cederberg, and Ulf Sonesson. 2011. Global Food Losses and Food Waste: Extent, Causes and Prevention. Report for Swedish
Institute for Food and Biotechnology, http://www.fao.org/fileadmin/user_upload/ags/publications/GFL_web.pdf.
Economic Research Service. 2010. Loss-Adjusted Food Availability: Spreadsheets.
http://ers.usda.gov/Data/FoodConsumption/FoodGuideSpreadsheets.htm.
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WHY WASTE
HAPPENS
8
Less than 1 min
Next we look at...
8
-------
In one month,
a family of 4 wastes
9
2 minutes
Looking at the amount of wasted food by household:
The photo shows a depiction of a family of 4's monthly share of wasted food in eight food
groups.
Estimates for the various food types from a 1997 USDA article are shown in this picture. This
includes both retail- and consumer-level losses and is equivalent to about a # per person per day.
Fresh fruit and vegetables account for the largest percentage of household waste by weight.
Meat is the most expensive portion.
Some experts estimate that this wasted food costs a family of four $1600 a year.
***********************************
Sources:
Martin, Andrew. One Country's Table Scraps, Another Country's Meal. New York Times, May 18, 2008.
(http://www. nytimes.com/2008/05/18/weekinreview/ 18martin.html?_r=0)
PHOTO: http://www.nytimes.com/imagepages/2008/05/18/weekinreview/18martin-popup.html
Hall et al, 2009, The Progressive Increase of Food Waste in America and Its Environmental Impact, Plos ONE
Kantor, Linda Scott., Lipton, Kathryn., Manchester, Aiden, Oliveira. Estimating and Addressing America's Food Losses. USDA 1997.
http://webarchives.cdlib.Org/swltx36512/http://www.ers.usda.gov/publications/foodreview/janl997/jan97a.pdf
Buzby, Jean C., Hodan F. Wells, and Jeffrey Hyman. The Estimated Amount, Value, and Calories of Postharvest Food Losses at the Retail and Consumer
Levels in the United States, ElB-121, U.S. Department of Agriculture, Economic Research Service, February 2014.
Venkat,Kumar. The Climate Change and Economic Impacts of Food Waste in the United States. Int. J. Food System Dynamics 2 (4), 2011, 431-446, April 2012.
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Research shows that.
Total Household
Food and Drink Waste
Non-Edibles
18°c
Preventable
64° b
Possibly Edible
- 18%
Prepared or
Much
~ 40%
Not IMd in lime
- 55°o
Quested and Johnson, 2009
10
3 minutes
Previous research done in the U.K. shows that:
preventable food waste (that portion of waste that could have eaten at one time) is about
64% of all consumer-level waste
And the rest was split between non-edibles such as bones, egg shells, carrot tops and possible
edibles (food that is sometimes not eaten but could be with the right preparation, for
example, beet greens).
Of the 64% that is preventable food waste:
Just over 40% was attributed to having cooked or served too much (think of the waste left on
kids' plates). This also includes food that was burnt or otherwise spoilt during preparation.
But most of it was food that was not used in time. Of this, the largest percentage was
vegetables and salad.
Of the food not use in time, the UK researchers also found that much of the food not used in time
had never been opened.
Additional Notes
Other category constitutes things like fruit that won't ripen or losses during cooking.
What people think of as edible can vary a great deal
Source: Quested and Johnson, 2009, Household Food and Drink Waste in the U.K., WRAP Report
10
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Yet ... we all hate waste
11
1 minute
The mystery is why we waste so much especially since recent brain research shows that
we really dislike waste, especially when it is something that we consider ours. There is
even a term for it: loss aversion. Essentially, we are wired to hate losing the resources we
have in hand.
The good news here is that we have an in-built motivation to waste less.
Explanation of loss aversion: Losses are more powerful behavioral motivators than gains.
Owning something increases its value. Losing $100 worth of food has a greater impact on
how satisfied you are than saving $100 on food.
Source: Thaler and Sunstein, 2008, Nudge: Improving Decisions about Health, Wealth and
Happiness; Kahneman, 2011, Thinking, Fast and Slow
11
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Brain on automatic
12
2 minutes
Still, there must be other things at play. One is we often act automatically instead of
reflecting on what we are doing.
For example, you are likely to serve yourself more if your plate is bigger or if the color
contrast between the plate and the food is low. In this picture, the green plate has more
beans than the orange plate. Serving more food can lead to not finishing what's on our
plates and plate waste.
Our brains are often on automatic when we do routine tasks such as shopping and clean-
up after meals, so we might forget what leftovers we have in the refrigerator or that we
still have tomatoes in the refrigerator from the last time we went to the store.
Source: Cornell University Food and Brand Lab
12
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Dynamic lifestyles
Artist: Beverly Naidus
13
2 minute
Another big culprit in wasted food is our dynamic lifestyles.
Planning is one thing and following through on plans is another. We want to eat nearby
or have work commitments. Both of these may take precedence over going home to
cook that meal you planned on.
A study by the Cornell University Food and Brand Lab found that 93 percent of
respondents acknowledged buying foods they never used.
Artist: Beverly Naidus
13
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Complexity of Change
Additional Barriers:
Not enough information
Time needed to learn new skills
Time needed to prepare fresh food
Preference for one food type versus
another
14
2 minutes
While researchers can point to some general behaviors leading to wasting food, for
different families there will be different barriers to reducing food waste. Feeding a
household is a complex series of activities. There's meal planning, shopping, storing,
preparing and cooking food as well as choosing what to eat at any given moment. Some
of the barriers to making changes in how we carry out these activities are: not having
enough information to make a change, a lack of time, and food preferences. Children
especially can favor one type of food over another and though you try to get them to eat
food that is good for them, it seems that just as often its still on the plate at the end of
the meal.
14
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WHY WASTING
FOOD MATTERS
15
Less than 1 min
Notwithstanding these barriers to reducing wasted food, there are significant benefits to
be gained.
15
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By Keeping Good Food
from Going to Waste ...
We can:
Toss less
Eat well
Simplify our
lives
Save money
FIGHT
FOOD WASTE
in the home
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to *ovr
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16
3 min
As this WWII poster suggests, the benefits of keeping good food from going to waste
include saving money. As mentioned earlier in the presentation, some experts estimate
the cost of wasted food for a family of 4 to be $1600/year.
Buzby, Jean C, Hodan F. Wells, and Jeffrey Hyman. The Estimated Amount, Value, and
Calories of Postharvest Food Losses at the Retail and Consumer Levels in the United States,
EIB-121, U.S. Department of Agriculture, Economic Research Service, February 2014.
Venkat,Kumar. The Climate Change and Economic Impacts of Food Waste in the United
States. Int. J. Food System Dynamics 2 (4), 2011, 431-446, April 2012.
Other benefits include:
Keeping fruit and vegetables fresh for longer periods of time may help to increase their
consumption.
By trying different ways to buy and prep food, we can simplify our lives.
And there is the basic satisfaction that comes from wasting less.
16
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What it costs us in $
The estimated total value of food
loss at the retail and consumer levels
in United States:
$161.6 BILLION in 2010
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17
1 min
Sources:
Buzby, Hyman and Wells; The Estimated Amount, Value, and Calories of Postharvest Food
Losses at the Retail and Consumer Levels in the United States, (2014)
17
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Wasted Food =
Wasted Resources
U.S. food production accounts for:
50% of land use
80% of water use
10% of total energy use
18
2 minutes
But that's not all it costs us! U.S. food production accounts for...
*********************
Source:
M. Webber, "How to Make the Food System More Energy Efficient," Scientific American,
December 29, 2011
USDA Economic Research Service, "Major Uses of Land in the United States," Pub.
2002/EIB-14, 2002, http://www.ers.usda.gov/publications/EIB14/eibl4a.pdf.
United States Department of Agriculture (USDA), Economic Research Service, Economic
Bulletin No. (EIB-16), "Agricultural Resources and Environmental Indicators," Chapter 2.1,
July 2006, http://www.ers. usda.gov/publications/arei/eibl6/.
18
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Climate Consequences
Food is the largest stream of materials in
our landfills, accounting for 21% of the
American waste stream.
This large volume of disposed food is a
main contributor to the roughly 18% of
total U.S. methane emissions that come
from landfills
19
2 minutes
It should also be noted that when food is landfilled, it generates methane, a gas 25 times
more powerful than carbon dioxide. By contrast, properly managed composting is not a
major source of methane.
Sources:
U.S. EPA. Overview of Greenhouse Gases: Methane Emissions.
http://epa.gov/climatechange/ghgemissions/gases/ch4.html August 2015
19
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Discussion
What would keeping food from
going to waste:
Do for you?
Do for the environment?
Do for your community?
20
12 minutes
Have workshop participants group in pairs and give each 4 minutes to share the discussion
questions.
After everyone has had a chance to discuss, reconvene the group and ask for a few people
to share their insights from the discussion.
20
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1
STRATEGIES TO
REDUCE WASTED
FOOD
21
1 minute
In developing the pilot, a workgroup of researchers and practitioners evaluated different
strategies to prevent wasted food. The next slides present the top strategies in terms of
the workgroup's evaluation criteria.
The strategies cover the range of activities we undertake as households to feed ourselves
from planning meals, to buying, storing, prepping and making choices about what to eat
when.
Choosing all the presented strategies to focus on is not to say that there are not other
great strategies. One of the efforts in the [small or large-scale campaign] is to test how
effective these strategies are.
21
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SMART SHOPPING:
BUY WHAT YOU NEED
SMART STRATEGY:
Make a Shopping 1
with Meals in Mind
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22
2 minutes
The first of the four strategies is making a food shopping list with meals in mind. This
strategy is a little simpler than all-out meal planning and it leaves flexibility for buying
what is local and seasonal, say if you go to the farmers market and find an abundance of
summer squash.
The object in making a shopping list with meals in mind is both to check what you
already have on hand, what we call "shopping your kitchen first" but also to consider
how many meals you will be likely to eat at home before you next go shopping and buy
accordingly.
By making a list with meals in mind, you will waste less, eat better, and save time and
money.
This strategy also focuses on buying only the quantities you need until your next
shopping trip. The effort here is to be aware when you are shopping how much you are
putting in your cart rather than being on autopilot when shopping. By buying no more
than what you expect to use, you will be more likely to use it up and keep it fresh.
22
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SMART STORAGE:
KEEP FRUITS AND VEGETABLES FRESH
FRUIT AND VEGETABLE STORAGE GUIDE
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23
2 minutes
The second strategy is perhaps the easiest of all - storing fruits and vegetables for
maximum freshness, especially knowing which fruits and vegetables last longer inside or
outside the fridge. We've developed a storage guide to help out with this strategy.
By storing fruits and vegetables for maximum freshness, they will taste better and last
longer, helping you eat more of them.
23
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SMART PREP:
PREP NOW, EAT LATER
Image courtesy of Gran Cochianc FrecDiiitalPhotos net
24
2 minutes
The third strategy is to prep your perishables as soon as possible and, if possible, when
you return from your grocery shopping trip. This strategy helps with busy lifestyles,
those times when you get home and only have a half hour or so to fix that dinner with
fresh vegetables. By preparing perishable foods post-shopping, you'll make it easier to
whip up meals later in the week, saving time, effort and money. Many people also
prepare meals in batch up front.
24
-------
SMART SAVING:
EAT WHAT YOU BUY
25
1 minute
The final strategy is to eat what needs eating first. By being mindful of old ingredients
and leftovers you need to use up, you'll waste less and may even find a new favorite dish
in the process.
One way to do this is to move food that's likely to spoil soon to the front of the shelf or a
designated "eat now" area. Another is to learn flexible recipes. Casseroles, frittatas,
soups and smoothies are great ways to use leftovers, and odds and ends.
25
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Discussion
What other strategies can
you recommend?
26
10 minutes
Solicit other strategies from group as a whole.
26
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::OOD: TOO GOOD TO
VASTE CHALLENGE
27
Less than 1 minute
One way to succeed in making these shifts is to make a record of what you are doing.
The workgroup developed a challenge to engage households in reducing wasted food by
raising awareness on how much food is going to waste.
A second purpose of the challenge collect data that will help in the design of future
programs to reduce wasted food.
27
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Take the
Challenge
Record the
amount of
household wasted
food before and
after adopting one
(or more) of the
four strategies
28
3 minutes
Record the amount of household food going to waste before and after trying one of the
suggested strategies. This strategy takes place over four weeks. In Week 1, you will be
measuring how much food currently goes to waste in your household. Weeks 2 and 3 are
for trying out a strategy to prevent waste. In Week 4, you will measure the impact of the
strategies.
28
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Take the Food: Too Good
to Waste Challenge
I would like to take the Challenge!
Name:
Email:
Today's date:
Distribute challenge cards and thank people for coming.
29
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