On-site Assistance

In each of the four selected regions, the IWRC will host two meetings with food waste stakeholders to help forge partnerships that broaden options to divert food waste while utilizing EPA’s Food Recovery Hierarchy.  Food waste stakeholders within each region will be invited to participate in the project including but not limited to the following:

• Haulers 
• Landfills/transfer stations 
• Retail food businesses
• Food pantries, food banks, soup kitchens 
• Colleges and universities
• Anaerobic digestion facilities
• Yard waste composting sites and commercial composting operations
• Municipal leaders and local/regional governments
• Food waste generators - K-12 schools, nursing homes, community colleges, restaurants, jails and etc. 

Additionally, training, when requested, will be provided to each region.  Regions that are interested in training will have the option to include the following:

• Implement food waste composting operations when requested - both best management practices to keep composting operations active and non-permitted regulatory aspects specific to each participating state’s policies
• Cafeterias interested in diverting edible food scraps regarding implementation of share tables, partnership building when donating, and liability protection
• Federal and participating state’s regulatory requirements when feeding animals (swine and ruminants) food scraps
• Tax incentives available to donors of food 

Action Planning

Each participating region will receive a customized action plan that offers recommended strategies to prevent and reduce food waste.  The action plan will include the following:

• Contact information for all regional food waste stakeholders that attended meetings
• All training guides and the fact sheet developed for the project
• Recommendations of strategies that work to prevent and reduce food waste
• Cost/benefit analyses of current practices in comparison to recommended strategies - financial and environmental aspects
• Search of the local area for donation opportunities, composting facilities, and anaerobic digesters
• GIS map of food waste stakeholders within each participating region
• Certificate of participation and window clings that promotes participation in the project

Upcoming Meeting Information

Please join us for a roundtable discussion about wasted food and opportunities to use this food as a resource. From donation, to composting and anaerobic digestion, to feeding animals; working together through partnership building can help us all break through some of the barriers when trying to keep food out of the landfill. 

Prairie Du Chien
Eddie's Irish Pub
Tues, Aug 17
4:00 pm

Charles City
Pub on the Cedar
Thurs, Aug 19
4:00 pm

Milan, Illinois
Pagalo's Pizzeria and Gelato Cafe
Wed, August 25
4:00 pm

We look forward to this in-depth conversation about food and how to best use it by working together as a community!  People we are interested in hearing from include those who regularly toss food in the garbage, community leaders, policy makers, municipal compost operators, food banks, pantries, and community meal hosts, and those with the capacity to deliver food donations to help feed your community's food insecure. Information regarding tax deductions for donations of food, feeding animals wasted food, how to build partnerships, and how to compost food waste will also be shared. Mostly, we look forward to meeting you!

Email Jenny Trent at jennifer.trent@uni.edu to register

This material is based upon work supported under a grant by the Rural Utilities Service, United States Department of Agriculture. Any opinions, findings, and conclusions or recommendations expressed in this material are solely the responsibility of the authors and do not necessarily represent the official views of the Rural Utilities Service.