Greenwich Businesses Invited to Learn about Food Rescue, Food Scrap Recycling

The Town of Greenwich, in partnership with Waste Free Greenwich and the Center for EcoTechnology (CET), has launched the Greenwich Food Matters Challenge, a program to empower local businesses to adopt food-saving practices to prevent food from going to waste in the first place, rescue surplus for food insecure neighbors and recycle any remaining food scraps.

On Monday, March 21st from 3:00 – 3:30 pm, local businesses, including restaurants, hospitality providers, grocers and health care facilities, are invited to learn more about the Greenwich Food Matters Challenge at a virtual information session hosted by Waste Free Greenwich, CET and Food Rescue US Fairfield County.

A link to the session is available at https://www.wastefreegreenwich.org/greenwich-food-matters-challenge.

“We encourage local businesses to take advantage of this unique opportunity to cut food waste and to discover more about the Food Matters Challenge at the info session,” said Waste Free Greenwich founder, Julie DesChamps. “Forty percent of food is wasted in the US with negative social, environmental and fiscal impacts, but there’s so much businesses can do using prevention, rescue and recycling strategies to put food to its highest and best use.”

Applications to the Greenwich Food Matters Challenge are open until Thursday, March 31 at https://www.wastefreegreenwich.org/greenwich-food-matters-challenge. Selected participants will collaborate with the organizers to assess their current practices and develop an action plan to be implemented in May and June.

The Challenge offers many benefits to local businesses and the broader community. Businesses will receive no-cost technical assistance from CET, a national leader in waste reduction that is currently under contract with CT DEEP. Implementation of food-saving strategies can result in significant cost savings, an average of $7 per pound of food waste prevented.

Further, businesses that donate through Food Rescue US are eligible for tax incentives. Participants will receive positive publicity and be recognized as leaders of a socially and environmentally responsible initiative. Our community will increase the amount of donated food, reduce the tonnage of heavy organic waste sent to incineration and raise local awareness around food waste.

For a link to the information session and further information, visit https://www.wastefreegreenwich.org/greenwich-food-matters-challenge or contact [email protected].