Newsroom
ReFED Articles
Fighting Climate Change by Investing in Food Waste Reduction
February 19, 2021
Climate change has already impacted the way we live, how we do business, and more. Fighting it is an existential imperative – and investing in food waste reduction solutions is a core approach for doing so.
Read Article
Seven Areas for Taking Action to Reduce Food Waste
February 11, 2021
These are the seven areas where the food system must focus its efforts to make a meaningful reduction in the amount of food going to waste across the supply chain.
Read Article
The Critical Role of Capital in the Fight Against Food Waste
February 3, 2021
Capital providers of all types play an integral role in funding the development and adoption of food waste reduction solutions.
Read Article
New Data from ReFED Reveals Amount of Food Waste Has Leveled Off After Increasing 11.9% Since 2010
February 2, 2021
While this shows that food waste reduction efforts are starting to make an impact, more needs to be done to achieve the nation's 2030 reduction goal.
Read Article
Key Findings From The ReFED Insights Engine
February 1, 2021
The Insights Engine is an online data center built from 50 public and proprietary datasets to show a granular analysis of food waste across the U.S. Here's what our analysis found.
Read Article
How COVID-19 Has Affected Food Waste – and How the Food System Has Responded
February 1, 2021
Initial estimates suggest that the early days of the pandemic saw large increases in food waste – but the long-term result might actually be a decrease.
Read Article
ReFED Launches $10 Million Fundraising Campaign to Support Food System in Reducing Food Waste by 50% by the Year 2030
November 12, 2020
New campaign highlights the impact of food waste on the climate, food security, and the economy.
Read Article
The Wonderful Company Launches $1 Million Innovation Challenge
September 28, 2020
ReFED serves as strategic advisor and managing partner for the global contest to discover environmentally-friendly solutions for pomegranate husks.
Read Article
SPOTLIGHT: ReFED Board of Directors Member Emily Ma
September 22, 2020
An interview with Emily Ma, who leads two early-stage moonshots at X, a stealth group within Alphabet, and who is bringing her passion for food systems and human-centered design to ReFED's Board.
Read Article
Pacific Coast Collaborative to Lead One of the Largest Public-Private Partnerships to Reduce Food Waste
September 8, 2020
The collaboration – with ReFED as a resource partner – calls on businesses to join a Voluntary Agreement to implement measurable action to cut food waste in half by 2030.
Read Article
New Guidelines Help Foodservice Businesses Include Food Waste Reduction in their COVID-19 Operating Plans
August 26, 2020
Get the new handout created by ReFED, the James Beard Foundation, LeanPath, Sodexo, and WWF.
Read Article
New ReFED Report Offers Organizations Across the Food System A Guide For Scaling Food Recovery And Hunger Relief Efforts
July 20, 2020
The report includes best practices, case studies, and expert advice for the entire food system on how to support innovative food recovery organizations as they scale their work to reduce food waste and fight hunger.
Read Article
A Message From Jesse Fink, ReFED's Inaugural Board Chair
July 15, 2020
"As I finish my tenure as Founding Board Chair, I wanted to express my deepest gratitude for all that you have done and continue to do to accelerate solutions to food waste."
Read Article
ReFED’s COVID-19 Food Waste Solutions Fund Awards $1M to Organizations Rescuing Food And Delivering it to the Most Vulnerable Communities
June 8, 2020
As the Coronavirus Pandemic Continues to Disrupt the Food System, Much More Funding is Needed for These and Other Front-Line Organizations.
Read Article
Announcing the ReFED COVID-19 Food Waste Solutions Fund
May 7, 2020
Donate and learn how to apply for funding to advance solutions that prevent or recover food being wasted at the farm level due to COVID-19 disrputions.
Read Article
Resources to Move Food from Farm to Table during COVID-19
May 6, 2020
Here's a list of resources and organizations helping to reduce the surge of food waste on the farm level due to COVID-19 supply chain disruptions.
Read Article
How You Can Help: ReFED's Directory of Fundable Initiatives for COVID-19 Support
April 8, 2020
Get details on organizations that need support right now to enact new safety measures, hire more drivers, establish “rapid response” services, conduct direct distribution to those in need, build new partnerships to facilitate their ongoing outreach, and more.
Read Article
Join our Discussion Series - "Better Together: Food System Best Practices for Navigating COVID-19"
April 8, 2020
ReFED's new weekly discussion series focuses on how to overcome the challenges facing food waste solution providers and food businesses in the age of COVID-19.
Read Article
ReFED'S COVID-19 U.S. Food System Review
April 6, 2020
Learn more about the changes occurring throughout the U.S. food system as a result of COVID-19.
Read Article
Food Waste Resources During The COVID-19 Pandemic
March 20, 2020
Here's how you can help ensure that excess food due to COVID-19 reaches the people who need it most.
Read Article
Announcing ReFED's New Executive Director
March 10, 2020
ReFED is excited to announce that Dana Gunders has become our new Executive Director
Read Article
Accelerator Expert Network Knowledge Series: Jessica Grace Torres, City Harvest
December 19, 2019
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.
Read Article
ReFED announces Plentiful as $100,000 Winner of Industry-First Nonprofit Food Recovery Accelerator
December 5, 2019
The three-month program concluded with an in-person Showcase co-hosted by ReFED and Feeding America and a commitment from DoorDash to support food recovery.
Read Article
Accelerator Expert Network Knowledge Series: Jasmine Crowe, Goodr
December 3, 2019
Check out this interview with Jasmine Crowe, Founder of Goodr, to learn more about how their blockchain-enabled platform and mobile app redirects surplus food from landfills to those in need.
Read Article
Accelerator Expert Network Knowledge Series: Hannah Koski, Blue Apron
November 27, 2019
Check out this interview with Hannah Koski, Director of Procurement and Sustainability at Blue Apron, to learn how their innovative model reduces household waste and improves access to delicious, fresh and healthy ingredients.
Read Article
November 2019 Newsletter
November 22, 2019
A Message from the Board of Directors, A Letter from our Inaugural Executive Director, Chris Cochran, Dana Gunders: ReFED’s Interim Executive Director, and Highlights from the 2019 Food Waste Summit, hosted by ReFED
Read Article
Where Brilliance Converges to Craft Scalable Action: 10 Reasons Why The 2019 Food Waste Summit was the Place to Be
November 21, 2019
The 2019 Food Waste Summit hosted by ReFED championed awareness to action to reduce food waste in half by 2030. Check out the top 10 highlights from the event.
Read Article
Accelerator Expert Network Knowledge Series: Leah Lizarondo, 412 Food Rescue
November 21, 2019
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.
Read Article
Accelerator Expert Network Knowledge Series: Rebeckah Piotrowski, City Harvest
November 14, 2019
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.
Read Article
Morton is Salty About Food Waste
November 7, 2019
A huge thank you to Morton Salt for their support and participation in the 2019 Food Waste Summit hosted by ReFED and their commitment to Erase Food Waste.
Read Article
Accelerator Expert Network Knowledge Series: Nicole Flewell, Taylor Farms
November 7, 2019
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.
Read Article
Accelerator Expert Network Knowledge Series: Robert Egger, LA Kitchen
October 31, 2019
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.
Read Article
ReFED’s Insights Engine: Fueling an Actionable and Data-Driven Path to Fight Food Waste
October 29, 2019
ReFED is pleased to announce that we are launching the ReFED Insights Engine, a digital-first, continuously updated platform to house the next generation of data, insights and guidance on food waste and solutions. Thank you to our seed funders for investing in and partnering on the initial stages of this...
Read Article
Press Release: ReFED Accelerates Action to Cut Food Waste in Half by 2030 at 2019 Food Waste Summit
October 24, 2019
Today, ReFED, the only U.S. nonprofit wholly dedicated to reducing food waste, announced the annual ReFED Food Waste Summit taking place October 28-30, 2019 at METREON in San Francisco.
Read Article
Accelerator Expert Network Knowledge Series: Thomas McQuillan, Baldor Specialty Foods
October 24, 2019
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.
Read Article
Accelerator Expert Network Knowledge Series: Kari Armbruster, The Kroger Co.
October 17, 2019
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.
Read Article
Accelerator Expert Network Knowledge Series: Eric Davis and Justin Block, Feeding America
October 10, 2019
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.
Read Article
When Innovation Meets Accelerated Knowledge: Championing Human-Centered Design to Create a More Equitable and Impactful Food Recovery System
October 9, 2019
ReFED hosts the first in-person Learning Lab for the Nonprofit Food Recovery Accelerator 2019 cohort in San Francisco, CA.
Read Article
Accelerator Expert Network Knowledge Series: Nell Fry, Sodexo
October 3, 2019
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 food service sites across North America.
Read Article
Accelerator Expert Network Knowledge Series: Doug Rauch, Daily Table
September 26, 2019
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.
Read Article
Accelerator Expert Network Knowledge Series: Bill Reighard, Food Donation Connection
September 19, 2019
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 over the past 25 years.
Read Article
ReFED Announces Cohort for Industry-First Nonprofit Food Recovery Accelerator
September 4, 2019
The diverse group of ten food recovery nonprofits come from eight states across the U.S. and range from established food banks to young startups that leverage concepts from the sharing economy for recovering wasted food in a dignified, scalable way.
Read Article
ReFED Nonprofit Food Recovery Accelerator: Open Call Analytics
August 15, 2019
Over 125 diverse applicants responded to the Open Call for Applications. See some facts about them below.
Read Article
A Helpful Move on Food Date Labels
June 14, 2019
This blog was co-authored by JoAnne Berkenkamp at NRDC, Katie Sandson and Emily Broad Leib at the Harvard Food Law and Policy Clinic, and Jackie Suggitt at ReFED.
Read Article
ReFED Launches Nonprofit Accelerator, Funded by Walmart Foundation, to Double U.S. Food Donations
June 11, 2019
Open Call for Applications starts today for the three-month Accelerator that will offer $350,000 in prizes and extensive access to ReFED’s expert network.
Read Article
New ingredients key to sustainable growth: Earned revenue and technology at food recovery nonprofits
May 17, 2019
In 2018, 81% of Feeding America’s donations were recovered meals, yet this represents only ~5% of the 36 million tons of unsold food inventory generated within the food value chain each year.
Read Article
ReFED Capital & Innovation Newsletter: November 2018
November 15, 2018
ReFED's quarterly update on the entrepreneurs and investors fighting food waste.
Read Article
Press Release: ReFED’s 2018 U.S. Food Waste Investment Report Reveals Foundation Funding Reached $134 Million in 2016; VC Funding Reaches $125M in 2018
November 13, 2018
ReFED's 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.
Read Article
Goodr and Pulp Pantry Take First Place and Runner Up at ReFED's Food Waste Innovation Demo Day
November 9, 2018
ReFED Hosts First Food Waste Innovation Demo Day at SOCAP, Announces Release of Food Waste Investment Report
Read Article
ReFED's Innovator Spotlight: Food Forward
October 16, 2018
ReFED interviews Southern California food recovery organization Food Forward to learn how they plan to grow their operations and scale their impact.
Read Article
Retail, Restaurant, and Foodservice Webinars
August 22, 2018
In these webinars, ReFED hosts grocery, restaurant, and foodservice leaders to discuss insights from the Food Waste Action Guides and the successes they've had implementing food waste solutions.
Read Article
More Feast, Less Footprint: New Goals & Progress Towards Wasting Less Food
August 9, 2018
Join ReFED and partners for this Global Climate Change Action Summit event exploring the connection between food waste and climate change.
Read Article
ReFED Capital & Innovation Newsletter: August 2018
August 3, 2018
ReFED's quarterly update on the entrepreneurs and investors fighting food waste.
Read Article
Great Minds Think Differently: Diverse group at Innovator Workshop accelerates food waste solutions
July 31, 2018
Our takeaways from the U.S. Food Waste Summit Innovator Workshop, which convened food waste innovators, food businesses, funders, and policymakers to shape the future of food waste solutions provision.
Read Article
ReFED Partners with Harvard Law School Food Law and Policy Clinic to Host 2018 U.S. Food Waste Summit
June 25, 2018
Taking place June 26-27 at Harvard Law School in Cambridge, MA, the Summit will convene more than 300 leaders from across the public, private and nonprofit sectors to accelerate solutions to food waste and achieve the national goal to cut food waste in half by 2030.
Read Article
Picking up Speed: Food Waste Funders Meet to Fuel Further Impact
May 10, 2018
Last month 16 food waste thought leaders met in an industrial corner of San Francisco to discuss the future of food waste capital and innovation. The event held at the headquarters and warehouse operations of food waste innovator, Imperfect Produce, was organized by Alexandria Coari, Capital & Innovation Director for...
Read Article
Food Waste Prevention Packaging RFP
May 1, 2018
ReFED is currently accepting proposals to develop a multistakeholder project plan to address food waste prevention packaging. All proposals in response to this RFP are due no later than 11:59pm PST May 16, 2018.
Read Article
Innovator Workshop at the U.S. Food Waste Summit
March 7, 2018
ReFED is cohosting a free one-day workshop for food waste innovators as part of the U.S. Food Waste Summit. Learn more about the event and apply to attend!
Read Article
Press Release: ReFED Analysis Uncovers Opportunity to Reduce 16 Million Tons of Food Waste in Foodservice and Restaurant Sectors
February 6, 2018
ReFED collaborated with the four largest foodservice providers, major restaurants, industry trade associations, and more than 60 expert contributors to create the Restaurant and Foodservice Food Waste Action Guides to support businesses in developing and implementing food waste solutions.
Read Article
Press Release: ReFED Analysis Reveals Food Waste Represents $18.2 Billion Profit Opportunity for Grocery Retailers
January 23, 2018
ReFED collaborated with major grocery retailers, industry trade associations, and more than 30 expert contributors to create the Retail Food Waste Action Guide to support retailers in developing and implementing food waste solutions.
Read Article
ReFED Newsletter: September 2017
September 12, 2017
This summer has been an exciting time of growth and progress, both for ReFED and in the effort to reduce wasted food at scale. We have developed new programs around food business engagement, capital and innovation, and are growing our team.
Read Article
Data Driven Procurement for Less Wasted Food
September 11, 2017
Every so often, we unintentionally discover something truly valuable; either as a complete accident (think Penicillin) or as a byproduct of intended actions. It is no coincidence that entrepreneurs addressing inefficiencies at various nodes throughout the food system often end up addressing wasted food. Such is the case with Konstantin...
Read Article
ReFED Newsletter: May 2017
May 24, 2017
Last month, ReFED launched groundbreaking tools around two of the four Roadmap levers of action: innovation and policy. The Food Waste Innovator Database highlights over 400 innovators who are building new industries to reduce wasted food. The Food Waste Policy Finder identifies leading and lagging state policies that enable or block food waste reduction....
Read Article
ReFED Innovator Database Webinar
May 16, 2017
This webinar offers an introduction to ReFED's newly launched Innovator Database, along with an overview of current innovation trends.
Read Article
ReFED Policy Finder Webinar
May 15, 2017
This webinar provides an overview of ReFED's Food Waste Policy Finder, along with key policy insights.
Read Article
ReFED in the News: Going Digital to Rescue Food
May 2, 2017
This New York Times article describes the bourgeoning digital food recovery solution sector, highlighting ReFED's insights, and several of the innovators included in our Food Waste Innovator Database.
Read Article
Creating 'taste' from what would be 'waste'
April 30, 2017
ReFED recently connected with Dan Kurzrock, Co-Founder and Executive Grain Officer at ReGrained, to learn about what it takes to make tasty food from beer waste.
Read Article
How to Unleash the New Food Waste Economy
April 26, 2017
This post was written by Janet Reynolds of FoodFutureCo. Janet Reynolds is FoodFutureCo’s fellow and a co-founder of Waste for Good, a social enterprise building hyper-local networks to connect sustainably-minded food providers to a hub in the community, where food waste is converted into clean energy.
Read Article
On the Road to Reduction
April 17, 2017
Today, the United States wastes 63 million tons of food annually at a cost of $218 billion. ReFED is working to move the food system from acting on instinct to using insights and collaboration to solve our national food waste problem.
Read Article
Press Release: New ReFED Innovation and Policy Tools
April 17, 2017
Today, ReFED unveiled two new tools: a database of innovative food waste solutions, and an interactive map that centralizes federal- and state-level food waste policy to assist advocates and policymakers.
Read Article
Going Barnanas for new ways to use food
April 17, 2017
ReFED recently caught up with Caue Suplicy, Founder and CEO of Barnana, to learn what its like being a pioneer in the 'edible upcycling' industry.
Read Article
Executive Director Announcement
March 9, 2017
ReFED is pleased to announce its inaugural executive director, Chris Cochran!
Read Article
ReFED Newsletter: December
December 1, 2016
Winter may be in full swing, but work at ReFED is really heating up! Over the next few months, expect some big announcements, including the launch of two new online tools (additional details below) and the kick-off of our Funder Collaborative. We are beyond excited to lift the curtain on...
Read Article
The Billion Dollar Food Waste Market Investors Are Missing
November 17, 2016
A collaboration between AgFunder and ReFed, this article aims to highlight some of the technologies working towards reducing food waste globally that are not always associated with the problem.
Read Article
ReFED Newsletter: November
November 1, 2016
The ReFED team has been hard at work over the last couple months creating new content on the steady increase in entrepreneurs tackling the food waste problem and top trends we're seeing, and releasing recommendations for how foundations can maximize the impact of philanthropic investment in food waste solutions. In...
Read Article
Halving U.S. Food Waste: from lofty goal to practical reality
September 15, 2016
Most of our food-related stories are about what we eat – but, a year ago tomorrow, the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) decided to focus on the food we don’t eat. Together they announced a remarkably ambitious goal of reducing U.S. food waste...
Read Article
Behind the plate: Eva Fowler
June 27, 2016
Eva Fowler, Associate Director of Programs & Communications at ReFED, is working hard at making #NoFoodWaste a reality on a national level. ReFED has set the Roadmap for decreasing food waste, and it’s time for all of us to jump on board.
Read Article
The ReFED Roadmap To Reducing Food Waste
June 1, 2016
The Roadmap outlines systems for accomplishing a food waste reduction goal of 20 percent in the near term and 50 percent in the next 15 years. The strategy requires further investment — of time, brainpower and dollars.
Read Article
Check out ReFED in the news and other press articles
The Latest to your Mailbox
Subscribe to our Mailing List
Sign up to receive updates from ReFED
View past newsletters in the newsletter archive