Product Type: All
Stage: Distribution & Marketing, Consumption
Problem: Unsold food is mostly wasted on disposal by retailers
Solution: Enforce diversion of unsold food to charities and food banks and increase infrastructure

1. Retailers often directly dispose of unsold food products instead of diverting unsold merchandise to food banks and other foundations which distribute food to at-risk populations.
2. Expanding food bank and other donation infrastructure and establishing partnerships with retailers to divert unsold, non-spoiled food to food banks and other non-profit distributors has the potential to reduce an estimated 103 thousand tons of food waste in the United States alone.
3. Food banks themselves can expand infrastructure to increase capacity to accept diverted food: the Food Bank of Northeast Georgia in the United States secured $4.8 million in 2015 to build a modern donation facility with 6,000 square feet of freezer and cooler space. The Second Harvest Food Bank of Middle Tennessee in the United States worked with a green bean producer to install a processing line that would sort out misshapen or otherwise retail-unsuitable produce for donation to the food bank. The effort is expected to recover 1 million pounds of green beans per year at scale.
4. Legislative regulation can also push retailers to divert unsold merchandise to charities and food banks instead of destroying it on disposal. The French senate passed a February 2016 law prohibiting the destructive disposal of non-spoiled food approaching its “best-before” sale date. Supermarkets over 400 square meters are required to sign contracts to donate unsold food to charities. The law followed a grassroots effort among shoppers and anti-poverty campaigners and food waste reduction activists. The grassroots campaign led to a petition which resulted in the law.