Food Matters Annual Report

From July 2023 through June 2024, the NRDC Food Matters initiative partnered with 20 cities, counties, and nonprofits to reduce food waste in urban areas across the United States. Every year, 89 million tons of food are wasted in the country. More than two-thirds of that waste comes from residences and consumer-facing businesses like restaurants and grocery stores. Since approximately 80 percent of the U.S. population resides in urban areas, tackling food waste in cities is crucial to achieving the national goal of reducing food loss and waste by 50 percent by 2030.

This annual report highlights our progress and the progress of our partners, including diverting 35,753 tons of food away from landfills and preventing nearly 62,000 metric tons of climate emissions (CO2e).

We are excited to see the continued success and further deployment of these strategies across multiple Food Matters cities. To receive more frequent updates about the Food Matters initiative, sign up for our newsletter at [email protected].