U.S. Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack and Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Administrator Gina McCarthy have announced the inaugural class of the “U.S. Food Loss and Waste 2030 Champions.” These are U.S. businesses pledging concrete steps to reduce food loss and waste in their operations by 50 percent by 2030.
These companies include Ahold USA, Blue Apron, Bon Appétit Management Co., Campbell Soup Co., Conagra Brands, Delhaize America, General Mills, Kellogg Co., PepsiCo, Sodexo, Unilever, Walmart, Wegmans Food Markets, Weis Markets and YUM! Brands.
“The founding 2030 Champions have shown exceptional leadership in the fight to reduce, recover and recycle food loss and waste,” said Vilsack. “The staggering amount of wasted food in the United States has far-reaching impacts on food security, resource conservation and climate change. To help galvanize U.S. efforts to reduce food loss and waste, USDA and EPA announced the first U.S. food loss and waste reduction goal in September 2015. Today, the first 15 champions are stepping up to do their part to help the nation reach this critical goal.”
Added McCarthy, “Reducing food waste is good for business, it’s good for the environment and it’s good for our communities. We need leaders in every field and every sector to help us reach our food loss goal. That’s why we’re excited to work with the 2030 Champions and others across the food retail industry as we work together to ensure that we feed families instead of landfills.”
Each champion has established a baseline marking and will measure and report on their progress toward the goal in a way that makes sense for their organization.
