California’s Food Recovery Program is the First of its Kind in the US

In the first three months of 2024, Bon Appétit Management Company (BAMCO) cafes in California donated 65,596 pounds of food. As a food service provider for more than a thousand universities and corporate campuses across the US, BAMCO first began a food recovery program in 2015.

“When you walk through our kitchens, it’s very clear to see that we contribute to food waste. And we were very concerned about particularly the greenhouse gases that are created when food goes to landfills,” says vice president of food education and wellness Terri Brownlee. “We knew that there were lots of things we could do.”

In California, BAMCO now must be compliant with SB 1383 regulations, and its program positioned it ahead of the curve.

Passed in 2016, SB 1383 is California legislation that reduces emissions by diverting organic waste from landfills. It included a component that requires food recovery from food generators of a certain size—restaurants that seat more than 250, grocery stores, hospitals, schools, and more.

These entities donate surplus food as a way to reduce food waste and also feed the hungry. Regulations went into effect in 2022.

Wasted food and other organic matter is responsible for about a third of methane produced by landfills, so food recovery has the potential to greatly reduce emissions. And in a country where hunger rates are unacceptably high—over one-fifth of California’s population was food insecure in 2020—wasted food could be better used elsewhere.

But legislation like this is also one of a kind. While the Good Samaritan Act provides federal liability protection for surplus food donations, California is the first to mandate it. This means that California’s program is a statewide experiment that will likely inform if and how other parts of the country choose to address food waste.

Cutting down on institutional food waste is not a small task—but Brownlee says it’s doable.

“Don’t be scared of it,” says Brownlee. “It might feel overwhelming to begin with. But if you just take it and break it down and create some systems, it becomes very manageable.”

Food recovery in practice

On any given week, the Alameda County Community Food Bank (ACCFB) in California has about 490 scheduled food pick-ups from entities that produce surplus food—grocery stores, food distributors and more. These pick-ups are accomplished by approximately 70 of ACCFB’s agency partners. Under the logistical guidance of ACCFB, the food that gets picked up every week gets redistributed to food pantries, soup kitchens and other entities that can directly service community members who need it.

Many of the donors from which ACCFB’s partners collect food are edible food generators compliant with SB 1383. “Edible food generators” such as grocery stores are important to target in pursuit of food waste solutions because consumer-facing businesses are responsible for about 20 percent of food waste in the US.

So far, California is making progress on its food recovery goal of sending 20 percent of edible surplus food to people who need it by 2025. In 2022, about 405,782,341 pounds of food was recovered. That translates to approximately 338 million meals.

Organizations such as ACCFB, which have been in food recovery work for years, are finding themselves as subject matter experts in this field that is now relevant to a lot more organizations.

This legislation has resulted in an uptick in donations from existing partners and brought new donors to the table, says Xochi Hernandez, sustainability program manager for ACCFB.

“We were kind of able to leverage this legislation and say, ‘hey, help us help you be in compliance.’”

In order to safeguard against existing food recovery organizations being bombarded with food donations beyond their capacity, SB1383 stipulates that food recovery organizations are not required to accept food that they can’t handle.

Under SB 1383, excess food must be diverted from landfills. (Photography via Shutterstock/Ringo Chiu)

Food Share is a food recovery organization in Ventura County. Chief operations officer Brian Fisher says there’s a need for additional education for food producers about what can actually be donated.

“Food donations have increased but so has the amount of unusable food, which, unfortunately, ends up in the trash,” wrote Fisher to Modern Farmer in an email. “We have discovered there is a need to educate donors on what food recovery organizations can accept and what should be thrown away.”

Food Share has been handling what the legislation calls “tier one” foods for years—these are shelf-stable items and produce. But education will also be important as the roll-out begins of tier 2 food recovery. These are foods that are more distinctly perishable. Tier 2 includes prepared foods such as sandwiches and pre-packed meals, and Fisher says the coordination between nonprofits and the county governments will be paramount to finesse this process safely.

“Dealing with prepared foods and produce, it’s a totally different way that food is stored and dealt with, having two totally different health requirements and code requirements,” says Fisher.

Reducing surplus food

Replate is a food recovery organization with chapters all over the country. One of the biggest bonuses that COO Katie Marchini observed from the legislation is the education component—SB 1383 requires counties to educate those in their jurisdictions about the requirements they must meet. A common misconception that she encounters in her work is that food donation is illegal. It’s great that now businesses will know that it’s not only legal, it’s required.

But leaving education up to counties to administer also means there is slight variation throughout the state, says Marchini. Additionally, SB 1383 was an unfunded mandate. She’s observed that counties haven’t had enough resources to fully implement the education aspect. This leaves nonprofits to up the slack.

“I think the education component has been heavily on the shoulders of nonprofits,” says Marchini.

Food recovery and source reduction are ways to reduce food waste. (Photography via Shutterstock/Ringo Chiu)

Currently, there is an amendment to SB 1383 in the California Senate that would require CalRecycle, the state’s waste management branch, to provide technical assistance to jurisdictions that request it. That technical assistance could include education programming.

By reducing the amount of organic waste that ends up in landfills, this legislation is a great way to approach a positive impact on climate change, says Marchini, but it’s not the answer to food insecurity.

“I think everyone who works in this system understands that food recovery is not the solution for food insecurity,” she says. “The fact that food recovery and food insecurity keep getting paired up together kind of complicates these matters.”

But Marchini expects that SB 1383 will have a ripple effect, inspiring future interventions and legislation in other places. She sees it already—some of the organizations with which Replate works have locations in both California and other states, so SB1383 has prompted them to start programs elsewhere as well, for the sake of uniformity.

The legislation backs into what she perceives as the real aim, which is to reduce the amount of surplus that occurs in the first place. It’s much easier to reroute excess away from the landfill if there’s less excess in the first place.

“I think requiring food donation makes a lot of sense, but I think it only makes sense if it’s also paired with source reduction,” says Marchini.

Dana Gunders, president and CEO of ReFED agrees, saying she wishes California had incentivized source reduction more upfront.

It’s too early to know the long-term effects of SB 1383, but Gunders says she thinks we may see a trend of more cities or states creating food recovery legislation in the future, as California pilots it out.

“I think a lot of eyes are on California,” she says.

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