USA ... Food waste
SumOfUs Campaign

Tell Walmart: donate unsold produce to charity!

Burgess COMMENTARY

Peter Burgess

Tell Walmart: donate unsold produce to charity!

A scathing report just released shows that half of the all food produced in the U.S. goes to waste. And in Canada, 40% of all food produced goes to waste. A part of the problem is that grocery stores like Walmart throw nearly $50 billion of food into the garbage each year, while many households struggle to put basic food on the table.

But there is a solution.

Grocery stores are stepping up to the plate and donating their spoiled food to charity. Already, American chains such as Whole Foods and Kroger have started donating food waste to charity -- and we want to make sure that the Walmart follows suit.

Tell Walmart to donate unsold produce to charity now.

Walmart is a massive global brand with 5,000 stores in the U.S. alone and 11,545 worldwide. And it cares what the public thinks. Already, calls for Walmart to stop wasting food are going viral -- and that means that we can be the tipping point to force it to act.

Right now, less than 3% of wasted food is composted and the rest of it gets dumped into landfills across the country, which has disastrous effects on the environment. Landfills are one of the biggest producers of methane gas, which in the long term is 80 times more climate-polluting than carbon.

Donating food to charity is a solution that works for communities and the planet. Already, Trader Joe’s donates its soon-to-be-expired food back to local communities, and there are similar programs are popping up all over the US and municipalities across Canada. But Walmart is still refusing to act. Just imagine the impact if we can convince Walmart to follow suit. It could be a game-changer for the entire food industry.

SumOfUs has been instrumental at pushing global retailers to stop wasting food. Already we’ve pushed major grocery chains from Asda to Carrefour to donate their produce. Right now, our community is pushing the UN and G20 to enact a groundbreaking law that requires all food that reaches its “sell-by” date be donated to charity. Let’s get Walmart to donate its food waste now.

More information

Half of all US food produce is thrown away, new research suggests
The Guardian. 13 July 2016.
https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2016/jul/13/us-food-waste-ugly-fruit-vegetables-perfect

58 Organizations Fighting Food Waste Around the World
Alternet. 8 July 2016.
http://www.alternet.org/food/58-organizations-fighting-food-waste-around-world

Supermarkets Are Key To Making America Stop Wasting Food
The Huffington Post. 7 July 2016.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/supermarkets-food-waste_us_577bbe78e4b09b4c43c111f0