TDEC Will Host 2nd Annual Food Waste Awareness Week April 10-16
The Tennessee Department of Environment and Conservation (TDEC) and partner agencies will host the 2nd annual Food Waste Awareness Week April 10-16. Gov. Bill Lee has issued a proclamation naming the week, which will feature numerous activities.
Supporting Tennessee Agriculture
The Tennessee Department of Agriculture’s (TDA) mission is to serve, support, and promote agriculture and forestry. They have made a positive impact on the local food system through many of their initiatives, including the Local Food Purchase Cooperative Agreement Program, Pick Tennessee Products, and support of projects through the Specialty Crop Block Grant.
RIFA: Serving Jackson’s Underserved
The Regional Inter-Faith Association (RIFA) has been leading the fight against hunger in Jackson, TN since 1976. In Jackson, 1 out of 5 people are food insecure and 18.9 percent of people in Madison County live below the poverty level, which is higher than the 15 percent US average. What started as a food resource for the community, evolved into a thrift store, community soup kitchen, snack backpack ministry, food bank, and a food co-op.
Tennessee Recycling Coalition
The Tennessee Recycling Coalition began in 1990 from members of a subcommittee for the Tennessee Environmental Council, who had similar interests in recycling. After organizing and planning three annual recycling conferences, TRC was officially established as a non-organization dedicated to promoting recycling and sustainable materials management practices in Tennessee.
Lupi’s Pizza - Farm to Restaurant to Farm
Lupi’s Pizza Pies first opened its doors in 1996 in Downtown Chattanooga and has since expanded to Hixson, East Brainerd, Cleveland, and Ooltewah. Since then, owner, Dorris Shober has strived to implement and maintain environmental stewardship throughout the restaurant’s daily operations.
An Advocate for Tennessee’s Food Industry
Since 1978, the Tennessee Grocers and Convenience Store Association (TGCSA) has been representing Tennessee’s food industry. Their current 300 members consist of retail grocery stores, convenience store operations, and food industry wholesalers, manufacturers, distributors, and suppliers. They advocate for these businesses and their customers, as they work with the Tennessee General Assembly, governor, and other agencies.
Grow Food, Not Landfills
Compost Nashville was started by Matthew Beadlecomb in 2014. He had two friends who wanted him to compost for them and a Toyota Camry. Since then, they have grown to service over 1,800 residential and nearly 100 businesses in the greater Nashville area, as well as providing composting services for festivals, farmers markets, weddings, and other events. They even source compostable goods for restaurants and events to help close the loop.
TDEC To Host State’s Inaugural Food Waste Awareness Week April 4-9
The Tennessee Department of Environment and Conservation (TDEC) and partner agencies will host the state’s inaugural Food Waste Awareness Week April 4-9 through TDEC’s Get Food Smart TN program.
Chattanooga’s Door to Local Food
A vibrant, well-nourished Chattanooga. That is the vision behind Chattanooga Food Center. How do they hope to do that? By increasing access to locally grown foods, providing nutrition education, and inspiring engagement in regional agriculture. The need in the community and the passion behind executive director and founder Holly Martin is what brought this organization to life. “The real need was to bring the entire community back to understanding their connections to food,” says Martin. And despite the pandemic, Holly and her board opened Chattanooga Food Center in late 2019 in the historic St. Andrews Center.
Cultivating a Better Food Shed for Knoxville
What started as Market Square Farmers’ Market in 2004, expanded into the non-profit, Nourish Knoxville, which was created to take on projects in the Knoxville food shed that expand local food efforts. Nourish Knoxville was officially incorporated in 2013 as Market Director Charlotte Tolley convened a group of local-food loving people to become the first board of directors. From there they published the first East Tennessee Local Food Guide, opened their first Winter Farmers’ Market, and to this day works to cultivate healthy communities by supporting relationships between local farmers, producers, and the public.
Green|spaces - Promoting Sustainability in Chattanooga
Since 2007, green|spaces has been working to promote sustainability in Chattanooga and exists as a resource to the community. Green|spaces offers a number of program, like their popular monthly lunch and learns and Empower Chattanooga, which work to increase education and awareness and promote best practices for living, working, and building green to improve Chattanooga’s environment, and economy, and social equity.
Society of St. Andrew - Feeding Hungry Neighbors
The Society of St. Andrew (SoSA) brings people together to harvest and share healthy food, reduce food waste, and build caring communities by offering nourishing food to hungry neighbors. SoSA gleans excess and unmarketable produce in farm fields and then donates that produce to organizations that feed hungry people.
Food Donation Connection
Food Donation Connection (FDC) assists food service companies with donating food and helps manage their food donation programs. Since 1992, FDC has coordinated the donation of over 750 million pounds of prepared food from food service companies in 31 countries.
Food Lion
Since 1957, Food Lion has instilled their passion for helping their community in everything they do and for 20 years, they have continuously lived out sustainability in their daily operations.
#901SaveTheFood
Since 2008, Clean Memphis has been working for a cleaner, greener, and more sustainable Memphis. The non-profit engages with Memphis and Shelby County community through clean ups, environmental education programs, the Project Green Fork program for restaurants, and more recently, through their 901 Save the Food campaign.
Mitchell Delicatessen
Mitchell Delicatessen, East Nashville’s Neighborhood Deli is known for their turkey avocado sandwich, but did you know that they are excelling in their fight to reduce food waste?
Increasing Compost at Music City Center
Music City Center, a 2.1 million square foot facility, is located in the heart of downtown Nashville. The award-winning convention center is LEED Gold certified and maintains its commitment to advance sustainable practices throughout the building. Since opening in 2013, one of MCC’s key green initiatives has been food waste reduction.
Not Just Farms
The mission of the Society of St. Andrew (SoSA) is to bring people together to harvest and share healthy food, reduce food waste, and build caring communities by offering nourishment to hungry neighbors. Most of their efforts are through gleaning farms, but if there is an opportunity beyond the field that allows SoSA to reduce food waste and feed hungry neighbors, they will take it.
Food Waste 101
Did you know that an estimated 40% of all the food produced in our country goes uneaten? Of the food that goes uneaten, around 98% of that ends up in landfills, with nearly 80% of that waste occurring at consumer-facing businesses (restaurants and grocery stores) and in homes.
Greening the Kitchen
Home-cooked meals and an empty trash can. Read this intriguing article by Heidi Rupke in the edible Memphis magazine, about greening your kitchen.
Get Food Smart TN
Get Food Smart TN is a statewide initiative launched by the Tennessee Department of Environment and Conservation (TDEC) aimed at promoting the wise use of food and the sustainability of Tennessee’s food resources. The initiative creates a unique platform for the state to engage stakeholders in education, outreach, and recognition centered on the prevention, recovery, and diversion of food waste.
Reducing Food Waste Across Tennessee
The statistics are staggering; 40 percent of all food produced in the United States goes uneaten, yet an estimated 42 million Americans are food insecure. A significant contributing factor to food waste is food loss that occurs at the agricultural level of our food system.
TDEC Announces Inaugural Food Waste Initiative Participants
NASHVILLE – The Tennessee Department of Environment and Conservation (TDEC) announced the first group of participants in Get Food Smart TN – a statewide initiative aimed at reducing food waste. The inaugural class was recognized on April 20, 2018 at an event hosted by former TDEC Commissioner Bob Martineau and TDEC Assistant Commissioner Dr. Kendra Abkowitz Brooks.