Action-packed convening for multi-sector leaders and advocates committed to food waste and hunger in San Diego County.
We believe in retiring the word “waste” when it comes to food because all resources are valuable. Join us in this year’s Summit to:
- Discuss promising solutions and high-impact opportunities
- Hear national trends and align San Diego’s actions
- Network and collaborate across sectors
- Strategize to advance policies and actions forward in San Diego
- Share resources and best practices to address food waste now
According to the Natural Resources Defense Council, 40 percent of food is thrown away somewhere between farm to fork, equating to a $165 billion loss each year for the US in resources including energy, land and water. In San Diego County, almost 500,000 tons of food waste is landfilled annually, where it decomposes and creates methane. According to the EPA, methane’s impact on climate change is 25 times greater than carbon dioxide over a 100-year period. The Environmental Defense Fund estimates that 25 percent of the manmade global warming we’re experience today is caused by methane emissions.
In addition to the economic and environmental impacts of wasted food, there are impacts to people. One in seven San Diegans, or about 500,000 people annually, don’t know where their next meal is coming from. This food system challenge also provides a unique opportunity. The San Diego Food System Alliance estimates that it would only take about 10 percent of the half a million tons of food going into landfill each year to support the half a million food insecure individuals in San Diego County. It takes committed leaders, thousands of silver bullets, innovative public policies, and multi-sector collaboration to resolve these challenges.
Our first “Food Waste Solution Summit” held October 2015 convenened 130 leaders from different sectors to collectively address the issue of food waste and hunger in our county. What resulted was a heightened level of awareness on the issue, recognition of best practices, and collaborative projects across sectors. We received significant media attention of the Summit including KPBS Evening Edition/ Mid Day Edition, San Diego Reader, CBS 8, and CW6. After the convening, the San Diego Food System Alliance formalized the Food Recovery Working Group to promote resources, catalyze actions, and inform policies that address the recovery of food resources for people, animals, and soil.
This year’s Food Waste Solution Summit IV will be another great opportunity for us to check-in on how we are doing to meet the state mandate on organics recycling, AB1826, which began implementation April 2016. We aim to further catalyze policies and programs in San Diego County to create significant shifts in how we address food waste.
