How to Reduce Food Waste
Establishments are encouraged to reduce the amount of food waste they generate by implementing food waste reduction strategies and actions. The USEPA has developed the Food Recovery Hierarchy (shown below), which prioritizes actions organizations can take to prevent and divert wasted food. Source reduction and feeding hungry people are the most preferred strategies.
Generators that produce less than 52 tons of food waste per year are not required by Law to source separate and recycle food waste. The Department encourages food waste reduction for establishments that generate food waste, regardless of the amount, to help reach New Jersey's 2030 goal to reduce food waste by 50%, established by the Food Waste Reduction Law (P.L. 2017, c. 136).
The following list contains strategies to help businesses and consumers achieve food waste reduction:
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USEPA has created a website with various tools for preventing and diverting surplus food thereby preventing/reducing food waste, including how to measure food
waste.
https://www.epa.gov/sustainable-management-food/tools-preventing-and-diverting-wasted-food#packaging -
NJDEP's Division of Sustainable Waste Management created a food waste reduction website.
https://www.nj.gov/dep/dshw/food-waste/ -
NJ Department of Agriculture created a website in partnership with food banks containing tools for reducing food waste.
https://moremealslesswaste.com/
