The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency recently recognized the Philadelphia Department of Prisons with a national award from the 2018 Food Recovery Challenge Program and gave regional awards to Giant Foods Stores and the University of Pittsburgh.

EPA recognized the organizations for their leadership in the sustainable management of food as part of a national goal of reducing food waste by 50 percent by 2030.

“EPA is proud of the way the Philadelphia Prison System has developed an innovative program to reduce food waste,” said EPA Mid-Atlantic Regional Administrator Cosmo Servidio. “Through EPA's Food Recovery Challenge, EPA partners with municipalities, businesses, nonprofits and other entities to reduce the amount of food in landfills and help them save money on waste disposal.”

Here’s more about the Pennsylvania winners--

-- Philadelphia Department of Prisons

The Philadelphia Department of Prisons (PDP), which was also recognized in 2015 for its food recovery efforts by EPA,  consists of six facilities with an average daily inmate population of 8,250 and approximately 2,600 employees (2017). In 2017, the PDP collected approximately 44,344 tons of food waste from two of its facilities - the Riverside Correctional Facility and House of Corrections Facilities.

The food waste was separated and processed into compost at the Philadelphia Department of Prisons, saving the city an average of $28,000 per year in landfill fees. The finished compost was donated to the local community as well as used in the Philadelphia Prisons Orchard Program.

Previously, all that food waste had been sent to a landfill.

Since 2011, PDP has had a comprehensive vocational training program for participating inmates. This training program works with the PDP Orchard, consisting of over 200 fruit bearing trees.

The fruit produced is consumed within the PDP prisons, in addition to being donated to city organizations. As part of the program, PDP has also partnered with Temple University in Philadelphia and the Pennsylvania Horticultural Society to provide classroom instruction for participating inmates in composting and urban land care.

The Philadelphia’s Public Defenders Office has been involved as well. Once a participating inmate completes the PDP vocational training program, that person may be eligible for early release from prison.

The Philadelphia’s Public Defenders Office has been involved as well and there are benefits to a participating inmate completing the PDP vocational training program. Some have gone on to receive paid internships in composting and land care in the community.

Since the initial grant from EPA in 2011, the Philadelphia Department of Prisons has secured additional grant funding from the City of Philadelphia’s Office of Sustainability. This additional funding had been allocated for the expansion of PDP’s composting program. The expansion will allow all the food waste produced by the PDP facilities to be composted.

-- Giant Food Stores

Giant Food Stores first began its partnership with the Central Pennsylvania Food Bank in 1983 by donating canned goods and surplus food to help feed the hungry.

With the recession in 2008, it was clear that innovative solutions were needed to help the food bank meet new, increased demand. In addition, high-protein meat was missing from the food bank.

Giant and the Central Pennsylvania Food Bank convened a task force to develop the innovative charitable meat rescue program called “Meat the Needs.” Considered a huge success and a “game changer” for Central Pennsylvania’s regional food banks, now all 171 Giant stores safely freeze and donate meat that is pulled from sale, a day before its sell-by date.

In 2017, Giant proudly donated 3,922,000 pounds of wholesome quality food to the food bank, equal to 3,268,333 meals served.

Looking forward, Giant will expand its store food donation program so that all departments can participate. This expansion is part of Giant’s commitment to reduce food waste by fifty percent by 2025.

In 2012, Giant began recycling unsold food that could not be donated by collecting its food waste for composting and feeding animals.

In 2017, Giant implemented a new recycling program to redirect even more food from the waste stream by anaerobically digesting its food waste. Sending its food waste to anaerobic digesters enabled Giant to divert 77 percent of its total food waste from landfills and incinerators.

Recycling food waste is not only socially responsible for the community, but it is also fiscally beneficial for Giant. In 2017, each Giant store saved an average of $1,600 by recycling its food waste.

In 2018, Giant is working on a solution to analyze its food waste and to reduce its food waste even more.

Christopher Brand, Director of External Communications and Community Relations for Giant states, “Our focus on a new and easy organic recycling program in our stores has really paid dividends; we were able to increase our total waste diversion from landfill and incineration by 4.8 percent (2016 v. 2017). This new program allows our associates to recycle organic items, even when they’re packaged, so the work is easily integrated into our day-to-day operations.”

-- University Of Pittsburgh

In 2014, students from the University of Pittsburgh student group Food Recovery Heroes began recovering surplus food from a campus bakery when they noticed surplus food was being thrown out at the end of the night.

Four years later, in 2018, after conversations with chefs and volunteers, students are recovering food from multiple campus-wide dining halls and cafeterias, including the basketball arena after games and concerts.

Students and Pitt Dining teamed up with the local food recovery organization 412 Food Rescue and together they donated more than 24,000 pounds of surplus food from campus - delivering it to local hunger-fighting agencies in the area, including the campus food pantry and the local housing authority.

Ciara Stehley, Sustainability Program Assistant, added, “About one-third of the food we distribute at the Pitt Pantry is recovered. Most of our clients are busy college students, and they really appreciate the fresh ready-to-eat foods and occasional bakery treats. Better yet, because food is recovered from campus, food insecure students have access to more of the same dining options as their peers. This partnership has allowed us to expand our variety and provide clients with more of the types of foods they want to eat.”

The awareness students brought to food waste also led to an increase in composting on campus. Student involvement in composting resulted in the University's composting effort increasing nearly 600 percent from 2016 to 2017 - from 19.5 tons to 135.8 tons.

Orientation week events, student affairs programming, and the second-largest dining hall are now all composting thousands of pounds of food waste each month with a new University goal to compost 50 percent of food waste.

Additionally, students from the newly formed Compost Coalition student group hosted pop-up food waste drop-off stations to facilitate composting for interested offices, dorms, and off-campus residents who want to compost but who have no collection stations at which to drop their food waste.

The pop-ups are turning into permanent composting stations making composting more accessible on campus.

According to Young Sarah Grguras, Student, Compost Coalition Co-Founder, “Our Do It Yourself food waste compost drop-off stations have proven there’s demand for composting from students, faculty and staff on campus. We’re now working with the University to create permanent composting stations around campus as the next step in establishing a campus-wide composting system.”

For more information on the EPA program, visit the Food Recovery Challenge Program webpage.

(Photo: Food compost helps Philly prison system raise vegetables and fruit (Civil Eats).)

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12/17/2018