Education & Advocacy

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Why Advocacy?

Food rescue–the act of diverting good food destined for the waste stream away from landfills and to people–is the core of our mission. This work is critical to protecting the environment as well as to taking care of the community. 

But to scale this work both locally and nationally we need to recognize that while the food rescue system has evolved, policy and regulations have not kept up with the evolving landscape. Working with legislators, government agencies, and other officials can provide funding opportunities, evolving liability protection for food donors, infrastructure changes that make it harder to send food to a landfill, and structural support for food recovery organizations. 

412 Food Rescue is passionate about making sure the system is designed for success, not just for us, but for food recovery organizations across the country. Just like we’ve done in Southwestern PA, we know that together we can make an impact.

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Our Policy Vision

  • Federal and state approaches that embrace the vision of a world where surplus food is provided easily to people facing food insecurity is a core component of our strategy to provide immediate food and nutrition needs for people. 
  • Food Recovery as an industry has a seat at the table when discussions of hunger and nutrition policy or food loss and waste prevention are discussed. 
  • Funding for food recovery organizations and efforts are seen as worthwhile investments of public and private funds. 
  • Regulations concerning surplus food handling (i.e., do you landfill it, turn it into biofuel, or compost it?) remove barriers and provide support for food donation and/or provide discouragement to businesses regarding food waste disposal.

How can YOU get involved?

Our Priorities

1.

Advocate for an increase in tipping fees with a portion going to food recovery. 

Act 101 authorizes counties to control the flow of municipal waste, specifically recyclable materials. Portions of the tipping fee, the amount waste haulers pay to dump into landfills, are what fund statewide recycling and food recovery programs. Tipping fees in Pennsylvania are lower than all of the neighboring states and have remained unchanged since 1988, meaning we actually import garbage from other states!  Increasing the fees to dump materials into landfills encourages diversion and helps fund efforts to increase productive use of surplus materials, including food.

Happening now!

Legislation

House Bill 620 is currently pending. It would increase tipping fees by $3 a ton, more than doubling the fee, but still keeping the cost below neighboring states. 

Get the fact sheet!

Take Action

Need some sample language for what to say? →

Dear Majority Leader Bradford,

I support House Bill 620, which would increase tipping fees in the Commonwealth, because I support food recovery. These funds have been used to support both recycling and food recovery (via the Food Recovery Infrastructure Grants) and are an investment in people and the environment. 

Over 40% of food is wasted before it has a chance to be used. That food could end food insecurity in our state if it were effectively redirected before it goes bad to people in need. Organizations like 412 Food Rescue in Pittsburgh, Philly Food Rescue, and Lake Erie Food Rescue make sure millions of pounds of good, healthy, fresh food every year gets to people instead of to landfills. Increasing tipping fees could help support not only these organizations but the creation of food recovery organizations in other parts of Pennsylvania. 

As food waste in a landfill is also a major generator of methane, the investment in food recovery has a dual impact. It protects our environment while nourishing our neighbors. Furthermore, when introduced in 1988, the $2 fee was equivalent to $5.37 today, meaning this increase is simply adjusting for inflation. For this reason, I support HB620 and urge you to move it to the floor for a vote.

[Please insert your connection (i.e., “I volunteer!”) and any personal anecdotes about why this is important to you.]

2.

Advocate for Expansion of the Pennsylvania Food Rescue Infrastructure Grant 

The goal of the PA Food Rescue Infrastructure grant is to “reduce to the greatest extent possible the amount of fresh and processed food stuffs entering the waste stream.” However currently it only provides funding for “equipment necessary to prepare, transport and store” donated food. Our goal is to help policy makers understand that the key to solving food waste lies in dedicated food recovery and that this grant program should be expanded to support food recovery by providing funding for technology and other operational aspects of food recovery that are  impactful.

3.

Promote an understanding of what it means to scale food recovery as a solution to both food waste and food insecurity. 

Food recovery is still a vastly misunderstood industry. In order to garner support for meaningful policies (as well as funding opportunities), it is critical that our elected officials understand what food recovery is and how it is both unique and additive to the pre-existing charitable food system.

4.

Partner with local, state and federal coalitions to advocate for policy that supports reduction of food waste

We participate in coalitions including the Zero Food Waste Coalition, the Pennsylvania Food Policy Council, the Pittsburgh Food Policy Council, and others to advocate for policies and legislation like the Food Date Labeling Act, the No Time to Waste Act, and other policies that specifically address food waste reduction through both prevention and diversion. Even when these solutions do not directly offer enhancements to food recovery policies, they fit within our mission to reduce food waste to create a positive climate impact. 

5.

Partner with local, state and federal coalitions to advocate for policy that supports anti-hunger policy

We support organizations advocating for state and federal anti-poverty and anti-hunger policies following their lead and responding to calls to action. While our main mission is food recovery, we strongly believe that food is a human right.