{"id":1787,"date":"2024-08-13T11:25:53","date_gmt":"2024-08-13T15:25:53","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dep.nj.gov\/dshw\/?page_id=1787"},"modified":"2025-04-04T14:35:50","modified_gmt":"2025-04-04T18:35:50","slug":"issues","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/deptest.nj.gov\/dshw\/swpl\/fw\/issues\/","title":{"rendered":"The Issue with Food Waste"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>[vc_row][vc_column][vc_empty_space][breadcrumb-shortcode][vc_column_text css=&#8221;&#8221;]<\/p>\n<h1 style=\"text-align: center\">Food Waste &#8211; The Issue with Food Waste<\/h1>\n<p>[\/vc_column_text][vc_column_text]<div id=\"mega-menu-wrap-max_mega_menu_2\" class=\"mega-menu-wrap\"><div class=\"mega-menu-toggle\"><div class=\"mega-toggle-blocks-left\"><\/div><div class=\"mega-toggle-blocks-center\"><\/div><div class=\"mega-toggle-blocks-right\"><div class='mega-toggle-block mega-menu-toggle-animated-block mega-toggle-block-0' id='mega-toggle-block-0'><button aria-controls=\"mega-menu-max_mega_menu_2\" aria-expanded=\"false\" aria-haspopup=\"true\" aria-label=\"Toggle Menu\" class=\"mega-toggle-animated mega-toggle-animated-slider\" type=\"button\">\n                  <span class=\"mega-toggle-animated-box\">\n                    <span class=\"mega-toggle-animated-inner\"><\/span>\n                  <\/span>\n                <\/button><\/div><\/div><\/div><ul id=\"mega-menu-max_mega_menu_2\" class=\"mega-menu max-mega-menu mega-menu-horizontal mega-no-js\" data-event=\"hover_intent\" data-effect=\"fade_up\" data-effect-speed=\"200\" data-effect-mobile=\"disabled\" data-effect-speed-mobile=\"0\" data-panel-width=\"#nav-main-width\" data-mobile-force-width=\"body\" data-second-click=\"go\" data-document-click=\"collapse\" data-vertical-behaviour=\"standard\" data-breakpoint=\"991\" data-unbind=\"true\" data-mobile-state=\"collapse_all\" data-mobile-direction=\"vertical\"><li class=\"mega-menu-item mega-menu-item-type-post_type mega-menu-item-object-page mega-has-icon mega-icon-right mega-menu-item-1877\" id=\"mega-menu-item-1877\"><a class=\"dashicons-admin-home mega-menu-link\" href=\"https:\/\/deptest.nj.gov\/dshw\/swpl\/fw\/\">Food Waste<\/a><\/li><li class=\"mega-menu-item mega-menu-item-type-post_type mega-menu-item-object-page mega-menu-item-1876\" id=\"mega-menu-item-1876\"><a class=\"mega-menu-link\" href=\"https:\/\/deptest.nj.gov\/dshw\/swpl\/fw\/food-waste-reduction-plan\/\">Reduction Plan<\/a><\/li><li class=\"mega-menu-item mega-menu-item-type-post_type mega-menu-item-object-page mega-menu-item-1857\" id=\"mega-menu-item-1857\"><a class=\"mega-menu-link\" href=\"https:\/\/deptest.nj.gov\/dshw\/swpl\/fw\/flyers\/\">Flyers<\/a><\/li><li class=\"mega-menu-item mega-menu-item-type-post_type mega-menu-item-object-page mega-menu-item-5150\" id=\"mega-menu-item-5150\"><a class=\"mega-menu-link\" href=\"https:\/\/deptest.nj.gov\/dshw\/swpl\/fw\/food-waste-recycling-rules\/\">Food Waste Recycling Rules<\/a><\/li><li class=\"mega-menu-item mega-menu-item-type-post_type mega-menu-item-object-page mega-menu-item-1855\" id=\"mega-menu-item-1855\"><a class=\"mega-menu-link\" href=\"https:\/\/deptest.nj.gov\/dshw\/swpl\/fw\/resources\/\">Resources<\/a><\/li><li class=\"mega-menu-item mega-menu-item-type-custom mega-menu-item-object-custom mega-menu-item-has-children mega-align-bottom-left mega-menu-flyout mega-menu-item-2853\" id=\"mega-menu-item-2853\"><a class=\"mega-menu-link\" href=\"#\" aria-expanded=\"false\" aria-controls=\"mega-sub-menu-2853\">Topics<span class=\"mega-indicator\" aria-hidden=\"true\"><\/span><\/a>\n<ul class=\"mega-sub-menu\" id='mega-sub-menu-2853'>\n<li class=\"mega-menu-item mega-menu-item-type-post_type mega-menu-item-object-page mega-menu-item-7293\" id=\"mega-menu-item-7293\"><a class=\"mega-menu-link\" href=\"https:\/\/deptest.nj.gov\/dshw\/swpl\/fw\/issues\/\">Issue<\/a><\/li><li class=\"mega-menu-item mega-menu-item-type-post_type mega-menu-item-object-page mega-menu-item-7296\" id=\"mega-menu-item-7296\"><a class=\"mega-menu-link\" href=\"https:\/\/deptest.nj.gov\/dshw\/swpl\/fw\/facts\/\">Facts<\/a><\/li><li class=\"mega-menu-item mega-menu-item-type-post_type mega-menu-item-object-page mega-menu-item-2854\" id=\"mega-menu-item-2854\"><a class=\"mega-menu-link\" href=\"https:\/\/deptest.nj.gov\/dshw\/swpl\/fw\/donations\/\">Donations<\/a><\/li><li class=\"mega-menu-item mega-menu-item-type-post_type mega-menu-item-object-page mega-menu-item-2855\" id=\"mega-menu-item-2855\"><a class=\"mega-menu-link\" href=\"https:\/\/deptest.nj.gov\/dshw\/swpl\/fw\/government\/\">Government<\/a><\/li><li class=\"mega-menu-item mega-menu-item-type-post_type mega-menu-item-object-page mega-menu-item-2856\" id=\"mega-menu-item-2856\"><a class=\"mega-menu-link\" href=\"https:\/\/deptest.nj.gov\/dshw\/swpl\/fw\/procmanu\/\">Processing and Manufacturing<\/a><\/li><li class=\"mega-menu-item mega-menu-item-type-post_type mega-menu-item-object-page mega-menu-item-2858\" id=\"mega-menu-item-2858\"><a class=\"mega-menu-link\" href=\"https:\/\/deptest.nj.gov\/dshw\/swpl\/fw\/restaurants\/\">Restaurants<\/a><\/li><li class=\"mega-menu-item mega-menu-item-type-post_type mega-menu-item-object-page mega-menu-item-2859\" id=\"mega-menu-item-2859\"><a class=\"mega-menu-link\" href=\"https:\/\/deptest.nj.gov\/dshw\/swpl\/fw\/retail\/\">Retail<\/a><\/li><li class=\"mega-menu-item mega-menu-item-type-post_type mega-menu-item-object-page mega-menu-item-2857\" id=\"mega-menu-item-2857\"><a class=\"mega-menu-link\" href=\"https:\/\/deptest.nj.gov\/dshw\/swpl\/fw\/residential\/\">Residential<\/a><\/li><li class=\"mega-menu-item mega-menu-item-type-post_type mega-menu-item-object-page mega-menu-item-2860\" id=\"mega-menu-item-2860\"><a class=\"mega-menu-link\" href=\"https:\/\/deptest.nj.gov\/dshw\/swpl\/fw\/schools\/\">Schools<\/a><\/li><\/ul>\n<\/li><li class=\"mega-menu-item mega-menu-item-type-post_type mega-menu-item-object-page mega-menu-item-1854\" id=\"mega-menu-item-1854\"><a class=\"mega-menu-link\" href=\"https:\/\/deptest.nj.gov\/dshw\/swpl\/fw\/contact\/\">Contact<\/a><\/li><\/ul><\/div>[\/vc_column_text][\/vc_column][\/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_row_inner][vc_column_inner width=&#8221;2\/3&#8243;][vc_column_text css=&#8221;&#8221;]Food Waste management, specifically the reduction of food loss and wasted food, is an important, active and timely issue in the United States and around the world today. Due to the environmental, economic, and social impacts and implications of wasted food, it is crucial that New Jersey identify and implement measures to reduce the wasting of food.<\/p>\n<p>In N.J.S.A. 13:1E-226 et seq., the NJ Legislature declared wasted food to be a major issue. Approximately 1.3 billion tons of food produced for human consumption in the world is wasted every year. This wasted food also leads to wasted resources such as land, water, and nutrients used to produce the wasted food. This food waste then has to be disposed of, often in landfills, where the food breaks down and releases methane, a powerful greenhouse gas. If a quarter of all food lost or wasted globally could be saved, roughly 870 million people could be fed as well as avoiding the economic and environmental impact of wasted food.<\/p>\n<p>In September 2015, the United Nations adopted Sustainable Development Goal 12.3, which established a target to cut in half the amount of food wasted by 2030<sup>1<\/sup>. A year prior, the G7 countries committed to facilitate the exchange of best practices and resources in reducing food waste as part of the\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.epa.gov\/international-cooperation\/environmentally-sound-management-waste-international-initiatives\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">G7 Alliance on Resource Efficiency&#8217;s<\/a>\u00a0focus on circular economies<sup>2<\/sup>.[\/vc_column_text][\/vc_column_inner][vc_column_inner width=&#8221;1\/3&#8243;][vc_single_image image=&#8221;7291&#8243; img_size=&#8221;large&#8221; alignment=&#8221;right&#8221; css=&#8221;&#8221;][\/vc_column_inner][\/vc_row_inner][vc_column_text]Many organizations, including the National Resource Defense Council (NRDC) and ReFED, along with states like California, Oregon and Massachusetts, as well as the United States Environmental Protection Agency have recognized the importance of food waste management and developed strategies and techniques to address the issue. The New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection (NJDEP or Department) has been greatly assisted by these and other entities while developing this website.<\/p>\n<h3>Food Waste = Wasted Food<\/h3>\n<p>Traditionally the issue of food waste has been centered on acceptable disposal methods (often focused on landfill diversion or recycling or composting) rather than the more thorough and accurate assessment of the expenditure of resources (water, energy, fertilizer, labor, etc.) invested in the production of food all along its supply chain and the true cost of food that is produced but never eaten by a human being.<\/p>\n<p>On this website, the term &#8220;wasted food&#8221; will be used interchangeably with &#8220;food waste&#8221; as we believe the term wasted food better focuses on the issue of food loss as the discarding of a valuable and costly resource rather than management of a resource at the end of its life cycle.[\/vc_column_text][\/vc_column][\/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_empty_space height=&#8221;50px&#8221;][\/vc_column][\/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_separator color=&#8221;mulled_wine&#8221;][vc_column_text css=&#8221;&#8221;]<sup>1<\/sup>\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/sustainabledevelopment.un.org\/sdg12\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">https:\/\/sustainabledevelopment.un.org\/sdg12<\/a><br \/>\n<sup>2<\/sup>\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/obamawhitehouse.archives.gov\/the-press-office\/2015\/06\/08\/annex-g-7-leaders-declaration\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">https:\/\/obamawhitehouse.archives.gov\/the-press-office\/2015\/06\/08\/annex-g-7-leaders-declaration<\/a>[\/vc_column_text][vc_empty_space height=&#8221;50px&#8221;][\/vc_column][\/vc_row]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>[vc_row][vc_column][vc_empty_space][breadcrumb-shortcode][vc_column_text css=&#8221;&#8221;] Food Waste &#8211; The Issue with Food Waste [\/vc_column_text][vc_column_text][\/vc_column_text][\/vc_column][\/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_row_inner][vc_column_inner width=&#8221;2\/3&#8243;][vc_column_text css=&#8221;&#8221;]Food Waste management, specifically the reduction of food loss and wasted food, is an important, active and timely issue in the United States and around the world today. Due to the environmental, economic, and social impacts and implications of wasted food, it is [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":133,"featured_media":0,"parent":1667,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"fullwidth.php","meta":{"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"class_list":["post-1787","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.8 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>NJDEP| Division of Sustainable Waste Management | The Issue with Food Waste<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"NJDEP| Division of Sustainable Waste Management | The Issue with Food Waste | Page Description\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/deptest.nj.gov\/dshw\/swpl\/fw\/issues\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" 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