RRS Joins ReFED to Launch Roadmap to Reduce U.S. Food Waste Report

March 9, 2016, Ann Arbor, Mich. – Sustainability and recycling consultancy, Resource Recycling Systems (RRS), joins Rethink Food Waste Through Economics and Data (ReFED) in announcing the launch of the Roadmap to Reduce U.S. Food Waste report outlining a path to cut U.S. food waste by 20% while spurring economic growth, creating jobs, increasing food security and protecting the environment.

RRS conducted research to understand food waste generation and disposal activities at each stage of the value chain – agriculture, commercial, institutional and residential. In addition, RRS researched, identified and analyzed downstream solution sets including those centered on waste recycling.

Key Findings:

• ReFED’s Roadmap identifies how we can take action today to cut food waste by 20%, putting the country on target to reach the national goal of 50% reduction by 2030.
• The Roadmap’s primary finding is significant: food waste can be cut nationwide by over 13 million tons annually by implementing a suite of 27 solutions that are feasible and cost- effective today, creating $100 billion in economic value to society over a decade.
• The Roadmap is estimated to generate over 15,000 jobs, reduce 1.5% of national freshwater use, double the number of meals donated to relieve hunger and divert nearly 18 million tons of greenhouse gas emissions.

The Roadmap uses an analytical framework to assess where waste occurs and the economic potential of each solution, enabling a level of prioritization that has not been possible in previous research. To develop the report, ReFED engaged nationally recognized consulting firms Deloitte Consulting LLC and RRS, and collaborated closely with The Closed Loop Fund, MissionPoint Partners, and Natural Resources Defense Council.

To ensure the Roadmap accurately represented the current landscape and included actionable insights, ReFED built an Advisory Board of leading organizations across sectors including Ahold, Bon Appetit Management Company, Sodexo, Wal-Mart, Waste Management, Feeding America, Grocery Manufacturers Association, Harvard University, World Resource Institute, California State Board of Food and Agriculture, the EPA, and the cities of New York, Phoenix, and Seattle.

For more information and to review the full report, visit www.refed.com.

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About RRS
Founded in 1986 and headquartered in Ann Arbor, Michigan, RRS is a sustainability and recycling consulting firm that strives to create a world where resources are managed to maximize economic and social benefit while minimizing environmental harm. The firm has cutting-edge industry professionals, engineers, economists, technical analysts, and communication specialists who share this vision and possess core strengths in materials and recovery, life cycle management, applied sustainable design, and collaborative action development. RRS serves both the public and private sectors to manage change in a resource-constrained world.  www.recycle.com

About ReFED
Formed in 2015, Rethink Food Waste Through Economics and Data (ReFED) is a collaboration of over 30 business, nonprofit and government leaders committed to reducing U.S. food waste by up to 50% by 2030. In March 2016, ReFED released the Roadmap to Reduce U.S. Food Waste – the first-ever national economic study of food waste to provide a feasible guide for action. ReFED’s recommended solutions seek to unlock new philanthropic and investment capital, along with technology and policy innovation, to catalyze over 15,000 new jobs, recover nearly two billion meals for the hungry, and achieve significant reductions in our national water use and greenhouse gas emissions. For more information and additional tools and resources, visit www.refed.com.