Topical Guide 445
Mark Dorset
Good Works, Noble Efforts
Reservations Recommended, Chapter 2:
“I represent this outfit called Boston Gleaners? They collect food — leftovers, literally — and distribute it to soup kitchens, rehab centers, shelters. You’d be amazed at what they get. Anything that isn’t actually put onto a plate, that kind of leftover.”
As City Harvest marks 40 years since we helped start the food rescue movement, we will collect 75 million pounds of good, nutritious food this year from farms, restaurants, grocers, and manufacturers to help feed the millions of New Yorkers struggling to make ends meet.
Food rescue is the process of safely recovering excess food and distributing it to people in need. In the United States, up to 40% of the food we produce is wasted. Much of this food is perfectly good and healthy to consume. By redirecting that food to our neighbors in need, we are fighting hunger through food rescue. . . .
With every pound of food City Harvest redirects to a family that needs it, we are also working to reduce food waste, a key contributor to climate change. When food goes to a landfill, it produces methane gas—a greenhouse gas at least 28 times more potent than carbon dioxide. Wasted food is the single biggest material placed in municipal landfills, according to the US EPA. And municipal landfills are one of the biggest contributors of human-related methane in the country, accounting for more than 14% of all such emissions.
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