Dive Brief:

• London-based environmental nonprofit Feedback has announced a US campaign with The Rockefeller Foundation as well as a coalition of more than 40 organizations and chefs to combat food waste. Feedback and the coalition will host a series of "Feeding the 5000" events in Washington, DC and NYC to provide meals made of food that would otherwise be wasted.
• The events are designed to celebrate the reduction of food waste while "empowering the general public to make informed decisions about buying and using food, and [demanding] change from the food industry," according to a press statement.
• Feedback has hosted 34 "Feeding the 5000" events across Europe since 2009, and has assisted in helping the UK reduce its household waste by 21%. 

Dive Insight:

Food recovery has been a growing problem across the nation as consumers and retailers waste about 70 billion pounds of edible food each year, according to Feeding America. And this waste is being disposed of while millions of US residents are food insecure–an issue reflected in nearly every country across the globe. According to estimates from the World Bank, the world will need 50% more food by 2050.

So if we have so much "extra" edible food to dispose of, why aren't we feeding people instead of feeding landfills?

This is the exact mindset behind Feeding the 5000. "Food waste is an immense global problem, but it's one with solutions readily at hand," said Dr. Zia Khan, vice president for Initiatives and Strategy at The Rockefeller Foundation, in a press statement.

Barbara Turk, director of Food Policy for the City of New York, echoed these thoughts. "In a city where 1.4 million people are food insecure, and even more have limited access to affordable, healthy food, it's essential that residents and businesses work together to reduce food waste at all levels. Mayor Bill de Blasio is committed to achieving zero waste, as outlined in OneNYC – and we are thrilled to partner with Feedback and a broad range of stakeholders at the Feeding 5000 NYC event to devise creative solutions to the problem of food waste," she said in a press statement."