Food Rescue MAINE

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image of 5 grocery bags with a car, two are spilled on the ground, three are still left in the car, with text, '40% of food in the U.S. is wasted each year'

Picture of Gillette Stadium with the text, "...Thats 133 billion pounds- This food could fill Gillette Stadium more than 700 times..."

picture of stacks of money with the caption "...is worth more than 160 billion dollars

image of a landfill with the text, "...and 97% of this food waste is still ending up in landfills"

"Wasted food is a massive issue, globally, and right here in Maine. Forty percent of the food produced for human consumption in the United States is wasted every year...The 133 billion pounds of food that’s wasted annually in the U.S. could fill Gillette Stadium more than 700 times. This wasted food is worth more than $160 billion, and 97% of it ends up in landfills, where it breaks down anaerobically and produces millions of pounds of methane gas, which is more damaging to the climate than even CO2...But food waste isn’t something that only matters on a national scale. It affects Maine and Mainers in important and troubling ways." - Excerpt from NRCM Testimony in Support of LD1534, "An Act To Address Hunger, Support Maine Farms and Reduce Food Waste"

Our Story

In 2015, a Mitchell Center multidisciplinary team identified eliminating food waste as the single most important issue to ensure a more sustainable waste system in Maine.

In 2019, a new interdisciplinary team was funded to help identify triple-bottom-line solutions to end wasted food in Maine.

Following the Mitchell Center research approach, our team worked with Maine’s major food businesses and organizations including retailers, distributors, farmers, manufacturers, hospitality, hospitals, schools, Congresswoman Pingree’s office, and others to identify stakeholder-driven food waste solutions that would deliver major economic, social and environmental benefits for Maine. We combined this with best-practice research looking for successful global, national, and regional solutions to end food waste. Finally, we utilized the Maine DEP Food Recovery Hierarchy to ensure that our solutions followed the reduction/recovery/recycling hierarchy.

diverse arrangement of healthy foods ranging in colors and sizes

Click on each solution area below to learn more!

Solution 1: Measure, Track, and Save

Solution 2: Food Rescue Program

Solution 3: Education

Solution 4: Build Maine's Food Processing Infrastructure

Solution 5: Increase Donations

Solution 6: Divert Food from Landfills