Robin Boles

Every day from the backdoors of grocery stores, our home kitchens, and our dining tables, food that could nourish people ends up in the trash. In the U.S. alone, nearly a third of all food produced goes uneaten representing a significant waste of resources and money with a high environmental price.

If you’ve followed my column, you know that food ranks high on my list of sustainability topics. We all eat multiple times a day, so our choices around food, individually and as a society, provide vast opportunities to increase our agency and have a positive impact on the environment.

It is widely acknowledged that we have the resources to feed everyone. Yet, hunger persists, not because of scarcity but due to the mechanisms of capitalism and inequities in food distribution. While grocery stores are stocked and plenty of food is produced, many people still go hungry because food access is tied to economics and logistics, not actual supply.

As the cost of groceries continues to rise amidst a gutting of governmental support, finding solutions for those who can’t afford food becomes even more urgent. Food waste recovery stands out as one way to address this challenge. And the benefits are multi-faceted: from feeding the hungry to valuing the resources invested in producing our food to keeping it all out of the landfill.

Remember! Food sent to the landfill doesn’t just disappear; it decomposes and produces methane, a greenhouse gas far more noxious than carbon dioxide.

So what exactly does food waste recovery look like? The answer is many things.

To start, we should produce, buy, and serve only what is necessary. Next, excess food should be donated or reused before composting or using it as animal feed. Finally, throwing food in the garbage or sending it down the drain should be avoided whenever possible. Essentially, we should always prioritize using food for its intended purpose which is to nourish people. (US EPA)

Taking matters into their own hands, some driven by need or principle practice, “dumpster diving” is the act of retrieving still edible food from the dumpsters of grocery stores and restaurants. While often illegal and generally frowned upon, it highlights a disappointing contradiction: the social acceptability around throwing away edible food against the criminalization and stigmatization attached to reclaiming it.

I am not suggesting we all start dumpster diving; unfortunately, the solution is not that simple. Food waste recovery is about way more than what happens behind the grocery store, though that’s part of it. We must start by resisting the urge at all levels of production and consumption to toss food before it is truly spoiled.

Learning about food dating and understanding the intention behind the types of expiration dates can help consumers make informed decisions and keep still edible food out of the trash. In fact, except for infant formula, the FDA doesn’t require expiration dates on foods. These labels are merely guidelines suggested by the manufacturer, and with a little knowledge, we can all confidently judge food quality by sight and smell.

Unfortunately, most grocery stores remove and dispose of products once they pass these dates, regardless of actual freshness. This waste, called “spoilage,” is necessary for grocery stores to ensure they have enough product on the shelf to meet all possible sales. Losses from spoilage, along with theft and damage, are included in what is known as “shrink,” and are factored into grocery store pricing, which means we’re still paying for the food that stores plan to send out the back door due to spoilage.

The drive for perfect-looking produce means farms, processors, and grocery stores all dispose of edible food in order to meet cosmetic standards and ensure sales. Addressing food waste requires letting go of this obsession; plenty of nutritious fruits and vegetables are discarded simply because they don’t come out of the ground or off the tree looking like a picture-perfect version of themselves, but they taste the same as their “ideal” counterparts.

At the industry level, food waste recovery could mean redirecting these still-good foods to food shelves and community organizations. Some stores do this, but policies vary widely. Most likely a fear of liability limits this practice; however, donations in good faith of “wholesome foods” and “apparently fit grocery products” are protected by The Bill Emerson Good Samaritan Food Donation Act of 1996. This legislation provides limited liability protection for backyard gardeners, farmers, caterers, restaurants, grocers, and others who make donations of food and grocery products to nonprofits that feed the hungry. The act also provides limited liability protection for those who distribute food and groceries, such as food banks and pantries.

If you want to get involved locally and learn practical ways to fight food waste in your own kitchen, consider joining the Preserve & Serve: Earth Fest Food Prep & Learning classes offered through River Falls Community Education this winter. These hands-on workshops will take recovered local farm produce, food that would otherwise have been composted or fed to animals, to teach food preservation techniques in our community.

Each class covers a different preservation method, including freezing (1/28), dehydrating (2/11), and canning (2/25). Whether you’re looking to make the most of your garden’s bounty or save surplus food from going bad, these time-tested skills can help extend the harvest and ensure nutritious food is eaten instead of wasted.

Sign up yourself or bring a group to these free classes sponsored by Hope for Earth. They will not only provide a great opportunity to learn kitchen skills that will translate beyond food preservation, but participants will also help preserve ingredients to be used in the food served at Earth Fest 2026, on Saturday, April 25. Service learning at its finest!

You can find details and register at https://rfsd.cr3.rschooltoday.com/public/home/. And keep checking back. These classes are just the beginning of a larger Community Food Preservation project we hope to roll out this fall in order to recover food waste from our local harvest and beyond.

By making small changes in our own kitchens and supporting community efforts, we can all play a part in turning food waste into food recovery and help build a more sustainable, resilient, and equitable food system for everyone.