Food Rescue U.S. INC
The Pitch
Food Rescue US - Detroit diverts food from landfills by connecting local businesses with social service agencies that redistribute excess food to those who are food insecure, creating healthier communities while reducing food waste and CO2 emissions.
The Problem
The COVID-19 pandemic led to business closures, a food surplus and a decline in consumers. Detroit’s local businesses lacked alternatives to disposing of excess food in landfills, creating food waste and CO2 emissions (created by waste decomposition). Meanwhile, many households in Detroit were food insecure, but social service agencies lacked the resources to fully support these families with enough food.
The Process
- Initiated the use of the Food Rescue US app in Detroit: The free service allows food donors to register fresh food and pairs them with “food rescuerers” who take the food to a social service agency
- Conducted outreach programming through public events, educational courses, social media and the press
- Began partnerships with the U.S. Department of Food and Agriculture (USDA) and the Farm Link Project to redistribute fresh produce
The Impact
- Alleviates waste management and disposal costs for local businesses
- Expanded their partnership network to include 40 social service agencies serving nine townships and 50 food donors located across 22 townships
- Redistributes 1,600 25-pound boxes of fresh produce to food insecure households weekly for eight weeks of the year via partnership with the USDA
- Rescued 48,000 pounds (and counting) of discarded potatoes via partnership with the Farm Link project
- Enables households to quickly receive perishable fresh fruits, vegetables, dairy products and meats, instead of relying upon carbohydrate-heavy canned and boxed foods
- Improves household health and prevents food from rotting and being wasted
- Allows Detroit’s social service agencies to reduce their spending on food distribution and redirect essential funds elsewhere
