Food recovery tool helps businesses divert excess food from landfills

This visual guide from a local nonprofit helps speed up decision-making for busy restaurants.

Food businesses in Philadelphia have a new tool to rehome their surplus in a more efficient and sustainable way. Circular Philadelphia, along with the city’s Department of Public Health, created a Food Recovery guide that offers alternative options to throwing meals and ingredients away in a landfill. 

Designed as a flow chart, the guide is intended to mimic the time-sensitive nature of food decay. At the top are items like unattractive produce that is still edible but is unlikely to sell; at the bottom are inedible foods, with organizations that will take food at that respective stage. 

This design was intentional and driven by input from the businesses themselves. “One common thing that we were hearing from people in the service industry is that ‘it’s always our intent to recover food, but we don’t always know where to go with it, and we have limited time,’” said Ash Tryba, Communications and Outreach Coordinator at Circular. And since organic matter – like food – actively breaks down, “you’ve got to kind-of move fast.”

The chart is intended to be a living document that can be downloaded from the website and posted in a visible and easily accessible place. Staff responsible for food disposal can see exactly the types of surplus that will be accepted at which organizations, whether selling to a secondary market, donating to nonprofits, or composting.

Impact of Food Waste

Keeping food out of landfills could have a larger positive impact on the planet and people. 

Food loss and waste – approximately 1.05 billion tons of food worldwide – accounts for about half of the global greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions from the entire food system, which generates eight to ten percent of total GHG emissions. 

Yet, over 730 million people face chronic hunger worldwide, according to the World Health Organization. In Philadelphia, an estimated 17.6% of the overall population is food insecure. 

“We have all of this waste, so how could we recover it to feed and nourish human beings?” said Tryba. 

There are also environmental justice impacts in diverting food from landfills. As the nation’s largest trash incinerator, Covanta burns as much as 3,510 tons of municipal waste daily, which contributes to high rates of respiratory illnesses in the majority Black-community in Philly’s neighboring town of Chester. 

Circular recently co-launched the region’s first sustainability search tool called ResourcePhilly to reduce the amount of overall waste Philly sends to landfills. 

“Food is about more than just food; it’s connected to our mental, emotional, and cultural well-being,” said Tryba.

Cover Photo: Alexandre da Veiga 

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