Connecting Communities: Bridging the Gap to Direct Surplus Food to Los Angeles County Food Deserts

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Commodities

Practices

• Sustainable Communities: community services, food access and security, food hubs, food loss and waste recovery/reduction, food sovereignty, infrastructure analysis, local and regional food systems, partnerships, public participation, public policy, social networks, sustainability measures

FoodCycle will address previously identified gaps in food recovery that continue to contribute to food loss. It will build upon, enhance, and expand previously identified successful strategies to prevent food loss and waste. Addressing the gaps that have been noted will help implement existing policies. 

California Senate Bill SB 1383 requires businesses to donate surplus edible food. However, enforcement of the law relies on local jurisdictions, which need more resources to effectively educate businesses and their staff about the requirements. As a result, large quantities of edible food continue to be wasted, while business staffers need to be made aware of what is required of them. 

FoodCycle recognizes the crucial role of business partners in our mission. We will work with them throughout Los Angeles County to develop training programs and encourage more donations of edible food. Their participation is appreciated and integral to our program's success.

This project focuses on creating collaborative networks with local and state governments and nonprofits that are feeding people directly. It will address food insecurity, concentrating on the underserved communities identified as "food deserts" in Los Angeles County. It is about empowering these communities to meet their own needs. It will actively engage communities and their constituents in addressing systemic issues in the food system that result in food waste.

FoodCycle's proposal will incorporate a previously piloted collaborative transportation network, which has diverted 28 million pounds of food since 2019. It will integrate the app Careit to streamline logistics and reporting, leverage FoodCycle's system of electric vehicles and solar-powered shared refrigeration units, and expand our network of community partners to include additional organizations working in historically underserved areas of Los Angeles County. This project has the potential to encourage cross-sectoral collaboration among regional stakeholders, efficiently use available resources, and create a cohesive strategy to educate the public and address food waste. This comprehensive approach will complement regional and state priorities while allowing for national coordination and impacts.

1. Create outreach materials to produce behavioral change on both the consumer and business level. Education materials will focus on consumer behavioral change and education of staff and administration at Edible Food Waste Generators.  Targe audience includes wholesale vendors, retail establishments, and individuals receiving food assistance. FoodCycle will work with the Los Angeles Department of Environment and Sanitation and local waste haulers to identify food loss and waste “hotspots” to follow up and provide solutions.
2. Develop outreach programs to encourage increased food donation and address identified gaps resulting in food waste in Los Angeles County. Collaborate with stakeholders to develop outreach and training programs with local entities working to enforce regulatory compliance in conjunction with cross-sectoral collaboration. Outreach materials for businesses will include training videos, manuals, training in integration with online tracking technologies and reporting, and guides to best practices.  Outreach strategies will incorporate plans to share the results with various audiences, including students, researchers, NGOs, local and regional governments, and community organizations. All strategies will ensure that local efforts at food waste loss and prevention align with regional priorities as well as with national coordination and impacts.
3. Identify and Educate Community Partners working with underserved populations in Los Angeles County.  Conduct outreach to identify community partners serving food insecure populations, assess needs, and better integrate surplus food into the existing food supply chain and hunger relief programs. Create capacity assessments of nonprofit organizations to identify and prioritize communities with the most critical needs for food assistance and to increase the self-reliance of these communities in providing for their own food needs.
4. To increase communities' self-reliance in providing for their own food needs, engage community stakeholders in quarterly trainings and community meetings to work with nonprofit community partners distributing food and assisting them in increasing impact and addressing identified needs. These stakeholder meetings will build upon and expand relationships between community-based organizations that distribute food, encouraging collaboration and network building among participants.
5. Schedule in-person annual conferences in Years Two and Three for all stakeholders to support collaborative efforts to create pathways to strengthen local and regional food rescue and get surplus food to feed those experiencing food and nutrition insecurity in Los Angeles County while reducing food loss and food waste. Ensure stakeholder involvement in planning, evaluating, and delivering training(s).
6. Develop collaborative partnerships and interdisciplinary efforts across the food system. Work with the Los Angeles Department of Public Works and Department of Sanitation and local waste haulers to assess businesses' compliance with existing food donation requirements.  FoodCycle staff will bring expertise in food donation to inform decision-making by local government and will work collectively with nonprofit partners, regional and state government, and impacted businesses to educate Edible Waste Generators and the public. These strategies align with USDA Food Loss and Waste Reduction program recommendations and regional priorities on food loss and waste initiatives and solutions.  They focus on interdisciplinary efforts and existing partnerships across the food system that will endure beyond the life of the project.
7. Support cross-sectoral communications to encourage systemic change. FoodCycle will work with the government, businesses, and nonprofits to communicate and elicit feedback.  We will schedule meetings with stakeholders to facilitate collaboration and request input from our nonprofit stakeholders representing historically underserved communities. The results of these meetings will inform our  FoodCycle, and we will share them with our partners working on the project.
8. Identify and focus outreach on “hot spots” contributing to food waste. Use FoodCycle-trained staff to educate business staff about which types of food can be donated. This program will build upon and update previously piloted programs that educate businesses about best practices in food donation. This earlier pilot resulted in a 5000% increase in donated food over the previous five years. 
9. Schedule increased pickups from donors to ensure that surplus food is picked up as needed. Initial evaluation and capacity assessment of food donors will integrate responsive follow-up that may include increased pickups and additional information about other categories of food that can be included in donations.
10. Support composting or using inedible food to feed animals to eliminate waste post-distribution. Work with community partners to integrate composting of inedible food received from businesses. Track amounts of inedible food currently being lost post-consumer distribution.  Develop strategies to compost or redirect surplus food from food banks and pantries to other partners serving food-insecure communities.
11. Track program outcomes and collect data using the Careit app.
12. Reports will include the total amount of food lost or wasted (in pounds annually) from points of origin (indicated by city and zip codes) and the composition of the diverted surplus food based on the categories of meat, dairy, grains, produce, and other items, as well as number of meals served to food insecure households.
13. Create a detailed report summary outlining methodology, impact, conclusions, and recommendations. The report will include baseline food loss and waste levels and improvements that result from these programs.  The report will include information about how these programs align with the EPAs designated Food Loss and Waste Prevention strategies and outline the results of improvements made by adopting innovative technologies in the food recovery space. The final report will incorporate an outreach component of the project to share the results with various audiences, including students, government entities, local community leaders, food donors, and attendees at regional and national conferences.