Resources and Guides

2018 U.S. Food Waste Investment Report

The 2018 U.S. Food Waste Investment Report details key trends in the capital and innovation landscape and highlights specific examples of philanthropic, public, and private food waste investment, including a Special Report on Foundation Funding.

2019 Annual Report

2019 marked the transition from awareness to action. Check out ReFED’s 2019 Annual Report below to discover our history, what milestones we achieved, and what our 2020 objectives are.

Accelerator Expert Network Knowledge Series: Bill Reighard, Food Donation Connection

Check out this interview with Bill Reighard of Food Donation Connection, who leveraged his industry knowledge overseeing operations at PepsiCo to launch a for-profit food recovery company that has coordinated more than 550m pounds of food.

Accelerator Expert Network Knowledge Series: Doug Rauch, Daily Table

Check out this interview with Doug Rauch of Daily Table, who applied lessons from his extensive retail career at Trader Joe’s to build an enjoyable shopping experience that promotes dignity and helps low-income customers access nutritious, affordable food.

Accelerator Expert Network Knowledge Series: Eric Davis And Justin Block, Feeding America

Check out this interview with Eric Davis and Justin Block of Feeding America, where they discuss how they leverage technology and innovation to support their nationwide network of 200 member food banks.

Accelerator Expert Network Knowledge Series: Hannah Koski, Blue Apron

Check out this interview with Hannah Koski, Director of Procurement and Sustainability at Blue Apron, to learn about how their innovative model reduces household waste and improves access to delicious fresh and healthy ingredients.

Accelerator Expert Network Knowledge Series: Jasmine Crowe, Goodr

In this week's interview, we hear from Jasmine Crowe, Founder of Goodr, to learn about how this innovative platform combines blockchain technology with a desire to reduce food waste.

Accelerator Expert Network Knowledge Series: Jessica Grace Torres, City Harvest

Check out this interview with Jessica Grace Torres, Director of Business Intelligence at City Harvest, to learn more about City Harvest’s technology solutions geared towards alleviating hunger amongst food insecure New Yorkers.

Accelerator Expert Network Knowledge Series: Kari Armbruster, The Kroger Co.

Check out this interview with Kari Armbruster, Zero Hunger | Zero Waste Project Manager at Kroger, to learn about their strategies for ending hunger in Kroger communities and eliminating waste across their company by 2025.

Accelerator Expert Network Knowledge Series: Leah Lizarondo, 412 Food Rescue

Check out this interview with Leah Lizarondo, Founder of 412 Food Rescue to learn how to develop a portfolio of initiatives to combat hunger and change behavior around food waste.

Accelerator Expert Network Knowledge Series: Nell Fry, Sodexo

Check out this interview with Nell Fry, Senior Manager of Sustainability Field Support at Sodexo, where she shares her strategy for reducing waste, carbon and water usage at 13,000 sites across North America.

Accelerator Expert Network Knowledge Series: Nicole Flewell, Taylor Farms

Check out this interview with Nicole Flewell, Director of Sustainability at Taylor Farms, where she delves into the opportunities she sees for nonprofit organizations to bring fresh prepared food to low-income individuals.

Accelerator Expert Network Knowledge Series: Rebeckah Piotrowski, City Harvest

In this week's interview, we hear from Rebeckah Piotrowski, Director of Institutional Partnerships at City Harvest to learn more about their mission-aligned partnerships that scale their impact to end hunger in New York.

Accelerator Expert Network Knowledge Series: Robert Egger, LA Kitchen

Check out this interview with Robert Egger, founder of LA Kitchen, DC Central Kitchen and Campus Kitchens Project, who shared lessons learned from years of working on issues of food waste, food insecurity, and workforce development.

Accelerator Expert Network Knowledge Series: Thomas Mcquillan, Baldor Specialty Foods

Check out this interview with Thomas McQuillan, Vice President of Corporate Strategy, Culture and Sustainability at Baldor Specialty Foods, to learn about his work implementing major sustainability initiatives throughout their foodservice operations.

Foodservice Food Waste Action Guide

Produced in partnership with the four largest U.S. foodservice providers and trade associations, this guide is designed to help foodservice providers develop and implement food waste solutions.

Foundation Action Guide

Philanthropic support is critical to the successful implementation of Roadmap solutions. This guide demonstrates how food waste initiatives enable foundations to achieve mission objectives, and provides key insights to help funders maximize their impact.

PCC 2020 End-of-Year Report

The Pacific Coast Collaborative's Food Waste Reduction Project's 2020 year-end report details the efforts of the public-private partnership to create a less wasteful and more sustainable food system – with the goal of making significant reductions in carbon emissions and contributing to the health and economic success of the West Coast region.

Quantis Greenhouse Gas Emissions of Food Waste Methodology

Read the methodology used to quantify the greenhouse gas footprint of food production and surplus disposal for dozens of food categories, tailored to the U.S. market.

ReFED 2020 COVID-19 Food Waste Solutions Fund Impact Report

COVID-19 has sent shock waves through our entire food system. In response to these challenges and leveraging our expertise on advancing data-driven solutions to food waste, we launched the ReFED COVID-19 Solutions Fund to quickly deliver more than $3.5 million in vital funding to 37 mid-sized, for-profit and nonprofit organizations across the U.S. View the Impact Report to learn more about the Fund. 

ReFED Food Waste Infographic

Our food system is radically inefficient. In 2019, the U.S. let a huge 35% of food go unsold or uneaten. The good news? Food waste is a solvable problem – here's what you need to know.

Restaurant & Food Service Reopening Guidelines

Restaurants and other foodservice businesses have been hit hard by COVID-19, and many still don’t know when they’ll be able to reopen completely – or at all. These guidelines can help you add food waste reduction procedures into your reopening and post-COVID operational plans.

Restaurant Food Waste Action Guide

Produced in partnership with leading restaurants and trade associations, this guide is designed to help restaurants develop and implement food waste solutions.

Retail Food Waste Action Guide

Produced in partnership with leading grocery retailers and trade associations, this guide is designed to help retailers develop and implement food waste solutions.

Scaling Food Recovery and Hunger Relief: Learnings from ReFED’s Nonprofit Food Recovery Accelerator

Our new report offers guidance to the entire food system on how to support innovative food recovery organizations as they scale their work to reduce food waste and fight hunger. Includes best practices, case studies, and expert insights from a network of world-class food business and technology executives, capital providers, innovators, and subject matter experts.

The 2016 Roadmap to Reduce U.S. Food Waste by 20 Percent

The Roadmap to Reduce U.S. Food Waste by 20 Percent is the first ever national economic study and action plan to reduce food waste at scale. It identifies the most cost-effective solutions and defines research priorities in an effort to spur multi-stakeholder action.

U.S. Grocery Retail Dollar-to-Weight Conversion Factors

U.S. Grocery Retail Dollar-to-Weight Conversion Factors

This report describes the methodology used to quantify U.S. grocery retail food prices per pound at the department and category levels. ReFED has developed this dataset with data from Nielsen.

U.S. Grocery Retail Food Inedible Parts Factors

This report describes the methodology used to quantify the weight proportion of U.S. grocery food items that are inedible parts (e.g., bones, cores, peels) as opposed to the part of a food item that is intended for human consumption. Numbers are summarized at the food department and category levels. ReFED has developed this dataset with data from Nielsen combined with USDA inedible parts percentages as documented in the Appendix.

U.S. Grocery Retail Food Packaging to Product Ratios

This report provides U.S. grocery retail food packaging to product ratios at the department and category levels and describes the methodology used to do so. ReFED has developed this dataset with data from Nielsen combined with packaging weights obtained from primary research as documented in the Appendix