Redirecting Food Waste In Prince George’s County
The U.S. wastes 133 million pounds of food per year. Food waste is discarded in trash bins, which ultimately ends up in community landfills. Food waste is harmful to the environment because it produces large amounts of methane. Methane absorbs infrared radiation, increasing the heat within the atmosphere. This causes climate change and global warming.
The Prince George’s Food Equity Council hasn’t always done the job that it is doing now (connecting communities to organizations that provide them with food). Heaven Jordan, the program associate at The Prince George’s County Equity Council, said initially the organization was focused on policy. But when the Covid-19 pandemic storm slowly infected people – causing death, businesses to shut down in the county, and increasing poverty– they jumped in, helping other communities provide healthy food options to residents living in food-insecure neighborhoods.
(Prince George’s County had pre-existing food-insecure neighborhoods and ones that lacked healthy food options before the pandemic).
Prince George’s County Food Equity Council members worked with local religious institutions as well as other nonprofits to streamline food distribution. For residents, the organization provides a digital map showing food distribution centers in the county. (See here).
“Food waste is harmful to the environment because it produces large amounts of methane. Methane absorbs infrared radiation, increasing the heat within the atmosphere. This causes climate change and global warming.”
But there was another problem that came to their attention. Food waste. The U.S. wastes 133 million pounds of food per year. Food waste is discarded in trash bins, which ultimately ends up in community landfills. Food waste is harmful to the environment because it produces large amounts of methane. Methane absorbs infrared radiation, increasing the heat within the atmosphere. This causes climate change and global warming.
“A lot of people in the community need food. However, we are wasting so much food,” Jordan explained. “So in 2021, we stepped up and started this program initiative called Prince George’s County Food Rescue.”
Jordan said local farmer’s markets, grocery stores, and restaurants donate food so that it can be redistributed to food-insecure neighborhoods. Jordan talked to me about The Prince George’s County Food Rescue Program. This interview has been edited for length.
DH: What is your hope for the Food Rescue Program?
HJ: A lot of nonprofits, food pantries, and shelters are in dire need of food. With this program, we hope to streamline that process a little bit better. We want to keep listening out for the organizations that have food so that they can donate it. We are also constantly recruiting new donors.
Furthermore, we do this by connecting people to The Food Rescue US app. It is a free app. It’s available for all residents to sign up. This is a mechanism to get community participants to volunteer their time transporting the food from one place to another. It really takes a village to feed the community and to better our environment.
DH: Are the volunteers using their vehicles to transport the food? And do volunteers get reimbursement for using their gas to transport food?
HJ: Yes, volunteers are using their personal vehicles to transport food. Also, volunteers will not be financially reimbursed for volunteering their time. The app informs the volunteers of the person they need to contact upon pickups and dropoffs. For example, the app will inform you that there is a pickup at 9 am on Wednesday at a school. You have to drop the food off at a pantry. The typical time to do a pick-up and drop-off is around 15 mins. We try to make it as close as possible, so it is something that people can easily accomplish.
DH: Are volunteers only delivering the food to organizations and not individuals?
HJ: Volunteers are only delivering the food to other non-profits, who distribute the food to the community members.
DH: Does this program have an end date?
HJ: No, it doesn’t. It is a part of our normal programming.
DH: Are there any other programs that you would like the community to know about?
HJ: The Food Equity Council is member-based, so anyone in the community can participate in the organization’s work. We have a number of committees that people can participate in. These committees work on a number of topics that impact the community.
If you’re interested in Prince George's County Food Rescue, you sign up here: bit.ly/pgcfr_signup. Community members can always become a member of the Food Equity Council by applying here and signing up to join a committee and workgroup, or FEC meeting by visiting here.
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