City Harvest Lead Distribution Center Associate Kareem Weekes moving baby food with a forklift before U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) Secretary Tom Vilsack and U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Acting Deputy Administrator Stan Meiberg will join with private industry and charitable organizations represented by City Harvest Executive Director Jilly Stephens, Food Marketing Institute President and CEO Leslie Sarasin; and Feeding America Chief Supply Chain Officer Bill Thomas, to announce the United States’ first food waste reduction goals at City Harvest’s food recycling facility in Long Island City, N.Y., on Wednesday, September 16, 2015.
The announcement occurs just one week before world leaders begin to gather at the United Nations General Assembly in New York to address sustainable development practices and goals, including sustainable production and consumption. City Harvest rescues excess food using a fleet of 19 refrigerated trucks, three cargo bikes, over 150 full-time employees, and more than 8,000 volunteers. In fiscal year 2015, they will collect 50 million pounds of food, greater than the total amount of food collected in its first 14 years combined. Seventy-five percent of this total will be comprised of nutrient dense foods, including fresh produce, meat and dairy. - See more at: blogs.usda.gov/2015/01/07/new-yorks-city-harvest-wins-u-s... U.S. Food Waste Challenge. Beginning in August 2014, food banks across the country competed to see who could sign up the most food donors to the U.S. Food Waste Challenge. From among the 200 food banks in the Feeding America network, the champion was City Harvest for signing up 114 donors to the Challenge. USDA Photo by Lance Cheung.
Original public domain image from Flickr