The DEC announces record milestone reached in food donation program

ROCHESTER, N.Y. (WROC) — During last week’s celebration of climate week, the DEC announced that a 32 million-pound milestone had been reached in the state’s food donation and food scraps recycling program.

The government agency provided 4.8 million dollars in the beginning of October of 2021 to increase food donations and strengthen partnerships with local food providers. This is an essential program not just for providing for the less fortunate, but also for reducing greenhouse gasses in landfilled waste.

“During climate week here in New York State, many people don’t think about food donation and food scrap recycling as a climate issue, but this is a major climate issue,” says Sean Mahar, who is the DEC Interim Commissioner.

This program is designed to take food out of the landfills and use it for better purposes.

“Two point eight million New Yorkers. Two point eight million people in New York are food insecure,” Mahar says. “And the more food we can take from going into landfills and putting them in the hands and bellies of those who need it most is what we set out to do.”

In doing so, we are reducing greenhouse gasses, which correlates directly with New York State’s plans to combat climate change.

“You look at all the sources of greenhouse gas emissions in the state and 12% of those emissions come from landfills and food waste, and our ability to take food out of landfills and directly taking methane out of the atmosphere and directly achieving the goals we have in New York State for fighting climate change,” says Mahar.

The 32 million pound milestone would have not been possible without the help of local organizations who have been working closely with the DEC. And now, the results are starting to show, but their work is far from done.

“Prepared foods like this are really a luxury and a key factor for helping feed many of our valued clients in the community. And we value these partnerships and it truly is a collective effort,” says Brian Leidy, who is the Chief Development Officer at Island Harvest Food Bank. “This is really good progress. But as we reflect on this progress this is just the beginning of our journey. We have a lot more work to do on this,” says Jay Hawkins, who is the director of Food Recovery Programs at Feeding New York State.

The DEC was also recently recognized with a 2024 Hunger Champion award from Feeding New York State for the agency’s partnerships with the organization, their member food banks and the broader emergency food relief organization network.

Click here to learn more about the Food Donation and Food Scraps Recycling Program.

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