Nashville Food Waste Initiative
ELI serves as Senior Strategic Advisor for the Nashville Food Waste Initiative—formerly a pilot project by the Natural Resources Defense Council and now a permanent project of Urban Green Lab. For the length of the pilot (2015-2020), ELI Senior Attorney Linda Breggin served as the NFWI Project Director. Recently, NFWI has worked with Nashville Mayor John Cooper to issue the Mayor's Food Saver Challenge, which encourages restaurants and hospitality businesses to take steps to reduce the amount of food going to waste in Nashville. NFWI has served on a taskforce that advised the City of Nashville on the development of its Zero Waste Solid Waste Master Plan, and currently co-chairs Mayor Cooper’s Sustainability Advisory Committee (and co-chairs the Waste Reduction Subcommittee) which will advise the Mayor's Office on its Climate Action Plan that will address food waste reduction with respect to mitigation and resilience.
Publications
- Packaging Best Practices for Prepared Food Donation
- Donor’s Guide to the Enhanced Federal Tax Deduction for Food Donation
- Food Donation Guidelines for Licensed Food Facilities
- Food Waste Restaurant Challenge Guide (as contributing author)
Media
- All About Nashville: NRDC & Nashville Food Waste Initiative – WXNA (segment begins at 22:31)
- Committee Provides Suggestions to Reduce Nashville Greenhouse Gas Emissions – News 4 Nashville (NBC)
- Best If Used: Tackling Food Waste in Music City – People Planet Places Podcast
- Mayor Cooper issues challenge to restaurant industry to reduce waste, feed the hungry – WKRN
- Nashville Mayor John Cooper Issues Food Saver Challenge - ExclusiveAccess
- Mayor John Cooper to challenge local restaurants to reduce food waste during holiday season – Community Impact
- Pollution Prevention and Rethinking "Waste" – Environmental Law Reporter
- Imperfect apples. Smushed berries. A cracked egg. Want to reduce food waste? Here's how – The Tennessean
- Environmentalists: Nashville has a trash problem – WSMV
- The Nashville Farmers' Market Helps Customers Recycle Food Waste – Nashville Scene
- Mayor's Food Saver Challenge Seeks to Cut Local Food Waste – Nashville Scene
- Nashville Restaurants Fighting Food Waste Can Now Hitch A Ride For Their Leftovers – Nashville Public Radio
- Volunteers rescue food for elderly, disabled for Christmas holiday – WKRN
- Analyzing Food Waste at the City Level – Waste 360
- Fighting food waste in Nashville – WSMV
- The Compost Company helping Nashville businesses go 'zero-waste' – NewsChannel5
- Nashville 2018: Eliminating food waste in Music City – WKRN
- Tennessee's Environmental Agency Wants To Make Universities More Sustainable, Starting With Fisk – Nashville Public Radio
- Today In Nashville featuring ELI's Linda Breggin (and Kroger's Melissa Eads) – WSMV TV
- Why Cities Are Working With Businesses to Fight Food Waste - CityLab
- When It Comes To Food In Nashville, It's Waste Not, Want Not – WBUR
- The Hive Hour featuring ELI’s Linda Breggin (and Seema Prasad & Matthew Beadlecomb) – Acme Radio Live
- Nashville Tries to Set an Example in Food Waste Reduction – Nashville Public Radio
Other Partners
- BioCycle magazine
- Institute for Local Self-Reliance
- International Solid Waste Association
- NorthEast Biosolids & Residuals Association
- Solid Waste Association of North America
- The Composting Collaborative
- US Composting Council
- Water Environment & Reuse Foundation
- Water Research Foundation (Colorado)
Further Resources
- American Biogas Council
- Center for Food Loss and Waste Solutions: Further with Food Portal
- Community Toolkit: Adding Food Waste to a Yard Trimmings Compost Facility
- Legal Fact Sheet for Food Donation in Tennessee: Liability Protections
- Harvard Law School Center for Health Law and Policy Innovation
- NRDC Food Waste
- ReFED Roadmap to Reducing Food Waste
- US EPA Sustainable Management of Food
- US Food Loss and Waste (USDA)