With so many people in New Jersey and across the country going hungry, it’s shocking to consider how much food is wasted. In America, about 119 billion pounds of perfectly good, nutritious food is needlessly thrown out each year – the equivalent of about 130 billion meals.
The potential to help our neighbors in need and our environment by eliminating food waste is enormous.
About CFBNJ’s Food Rescue Program
The Community FoodBank of New Jersey’s food rescue program, known as our Gleaning Program, currently has more than 300 partner donors.
Last year, we rescued more than 15.6 million pounds of nutritious food that would otherwise have been wasted from grocers to help feed struggling families.
How CFBNJ Reduces Food Waste
Our Supermarket Gleaning Program safely recovers food that retailers can’t market because of minor damage or a code date issue, redirecting millions of pounds of fresh, healthy produce, meats, baked goods, and prepared foods to our neighbors in need. Our fleet of refrigerated trucks picks up rescued food every day from generous donors across the state.
The FoodBank also works with state legislators on long-term solutions to food waste in New Jersey. New laws will create a food waste task force, establish a public awareness campaign around food waste, urge major food retailers in the state to reduce food waste, and designate the third Thursday in September of each year as “Food Waste Prevention Day” in New Jersey.
How to Join CFBNJ’s Food Rescue Program
If your company is interested in joining or learning more about our Gleaning Program, please contact CFBNJ’s Food Sourcing team. We will arrange for pickups every week and will provide weekly donation receipts. Electronic monthly, quarterly or yearly donation reports can also be sent at the store’s request.
Our volunteers also play an important role in this effort, sorting and performing quality control checks on foods that come to CFBNJ through gleaning. Make a direct impact on both hunger and the environment by signing up for a volunteer shift today!