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Waste360 Food Recovery Forum

Attend the Waste360 Food Recovery Forum where you can learn ways to solve the social and environmental issues of wasted food as well as means to benefit from the recovery and reuse of food waste.

At the Food Recovery Forum, we address food loss and waste across the supply chain, and provide solutions for food waste prevention, reduction, and recovery.

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One person’s trash may be another person’s treasure

Particularly when it comes to food waste. At this time, the need to prevent, reduce, recover and reuse food waste has never been greater.

If you’re interested in finding out how this can be done, attend the Waste360 Food Recovery Forum to learn about solutions for food waste prevention, reduction, and recovery throughout the supply chain from the foremost experts in the field. They will share strategies and technologies for combating hunger, developing a more sustainable food system, and resources for using data to drive food waste reduction… and more.

The U.S. 2030 Food Loss and Waste Reduction Goal seeks to cut food waste in half by 2030. With this in mind, speakers from a wide range of organizations, including governmental, non-profit, charitable, academic, and food businesses, will provide action plans being developed and implemented to reach the 50% reduction goal across sectors. Attendees will also hear how the reduction of food waste is a key policy priority for tackling climate change.

Much of the content is directed toward generators of food waste, e.g., restaurants, groceries, institutions, food retailers and wholesalers as well as the public sector and governmental agencies, that are responsible for developing and implementing policy for residential and commercial food waste diversion and recovery programs.

Presentations at the award-winning Food Recovery Forum will focus on successful initiatives and model programs to help not only expand efforts being undertaken to reduce food waste and loss but to rescue edible food to help feed hungry people and increase recovery for other important and beneficial uses. Think of this as ‘food for the thoughtful.’

Want to learn more about the Food Recovery Forum?
Contact me today for more information.

Dr. Stuart Buckner | Food Recovery Forum & Organics Recycling | 631-834-1400 | [email protected]

Steven M. Finn, Vice President of Sustainability and Public Affairs, Leanpath

“The Waste360 Food Recovery Forum provides a unique opportunity to bring heightened visibility of the scope and scale of the food waste challenge to the broader waste management conversation at WasteExpo. It allows organizational leaders working at all levels of the food recovery hierarchy to discuss innovative solutions to creating a more sustainable, regenerative food system by reducing food waste.”

Madeline Keating, City Strategist, Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC)

“WasteExpo’s Food Recovery Forum is an excellent event to connect with thought leaders, industry professionals, policy makers and potential partners working towards a shared goal to reduce food waste across the US. It provides an opportunity for presenters and attendees to share lessons learned and best practices, learn from peers, and develop key relationships that are essential to reducing food waste.”

Paige Sullivan, Client Success, Director, Copia

“What an incredible experience to connect with like-minded passionate pioneers in the food recovery and recycling space. The Food Recovery Forum & Organics Recycling Program inspired new ways of thinking, and the support for our solution, Copia, was empowering. We’re looking forward to next year’s event and the progress we will have made to save our planet by limiting global emissions through a better understanding of surplus food and by donating it to those most in need.”

Jennifer England, Head of Partner Development, Food Rescue Hero

“WasteExpo stands out as an opportunity to network with and learn from professionals specifically in the Food Recovery Space. The unique and undiluted experience of being with professionals specifically focused on edible food recovery results in exciting and valuable takeaways every year. I’ve been to many conferences where the primary benefit is networking. While the networking is rewarding, the exchange of ideas and information at WasteExpo leaves me with a list of action items every time. I spent the entire conference sending excited slack messages to my team about things we should try, people we should connect with, and programs we had to check out.”

Rich Cohen, Founder, Elevate Packaging

“The remarkable distinguishing hallmark of the WasteExpo conference is its focus on driving innovation and continuously improving thought and leadership about composting and organics recycling. There are many brilliant and innovative thinkers here, collectively driving a positive sea change of tremendous value. This is what our industry needs. The insight, knowledge, and innovation we gather helps us make an invaluable leap forward.”

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2025 Sponsors and Partners of the Food Recovery Forum

Chick-fil-A is an American fast food restaurant chain that specializes in chicken sandwiches. It is the largest quick-service chicken restaurant chain in the United States, with more than 2,500 locations in 47 states, Washington, D.C., Puerto Rico, and Canada. The company is headquartered in Georgia and has an estimated 140,000 employees. Chick-fil-A is known for its original chicken sandwich and its devotion to serving the local communities in which its franchised restaurants operate.

Denali Corp., the nation’s leading full-service organic recycling company, is committed to repurposing waste to create value and make our economy more circular. An innovative specialty waste and environmental services company, they have been at the forefront of diverting and converting food waste for more than 25 years and have grown to become a near-total solution provider for recurring food waste streams across the United States.

Their vision is to offer innovative and economically effective solutions for the management, handling, recycling, disposal and conversion of food waste through beneficial reuse, composting and anaerobic digestion for the customers and communities we serve.

Their team is on a mission to unlock the value of unused organic materials and positively impact how they are utilized, and they are committed to the founding purpose that guides us: to replenish the earth by repurposing waste. Rather than simply disposing of organics in landfills, they see the potential of recycling and repurposing them. They make a positive impact by creating high-quality animal feed, biofuels and organic fertilizers.

The Drexel Food Lab at Drexel University is a good food product development and culinary innovation lab focused on projects that apply culinary arts and food science to improve the system in areas of sustainability, health promotion and access. For more information, visit drexel.edu.

Food Rescue Hero® Your food recovery. Our technology. Greater impact together. Purposefully designed to automate the time consuming and variable coordination of food recovery, Food Rescue Hero enables scalable impact on food waste, food insecurity and climate change. Since 87% of the food for pick up is fresh, timely delivery is essential. In the United States, as much as 40 percent of the food produced is wasted while one in five people goes hungry. Food waste is also one of the leading causes of greenhouse gas emissions. Since 2016, the Food Rescue Hero Network, made up of 17 partners in the US and Canada, and a growing community of 34K volunteer drivers, has diverted 115 million pounds of perfectly good food from the landfill and mitigated 62.4 million pounds of CO2 emissions. Piloted in Pittsburgh, Food Rescue Hero facilitates partner growth and multi-county expansion, aiming to scale food recovery in 100 cities by 2030 and measurably support the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals 2, 12 and 13. For more information, visit foodrescuehero.org.

Littlefoot Ventures, led by ReFED and World Economic Forum alum Eva Goulbourne, empowers businesses, nonprofits, investors, and foundations to future-proof the food system. This strategy and implementation firm offers a comprehensive range of services, including food waste reduction implementation, corporate philanthropy advising, nonprofit fundraising support, strategic communications development, marketing, and impact narrative strategy. With a client portfolio that includes some of the most transformational leaders in the food industry, Littlefoot Ventures serves multinational CPGs, foodservice operators, emerging brands, technology providers, grocery retailers, trade associations, and family and corporate foundations.

Nation’s Restaurant News is the leading resource for business intelligence in the foodservice industry. Over the years NRN has always been ahead of the curve, adapting to the latest technology platforms and devices its audience engages with. NRN boasts the largest editorial team in the industry, feeding the content engine that in turn drives the largest overall audience in foodservice. Industry leading reports have become benchmark studies for foodservice professionals. Whether it is the yearly Top 200 chain report, the daily Social 200 ranking, or the quarterly Trending Tables feature, NRN creates exclusive content that sets it apart from any other brand in foodservice. For more information, visit NRN.com.

The Pacific Coast Food Waste Commitment (PCFWC) is an unprecedented public private partnership featuring some of the nation’s largest food businesses alongside local, state, and provincial governments, as well as nonprofit partners – all working collaboratively toward a shared ambition of implementing effective, industry-wide actions that prevent and reduce wasted food along the West Coast. For more information, visit our website.

Rubicon is a leading provider of technology-based waste and recycling solutions for waste generators, helping them to understand, manage, and reduce waste. They provide multi-location businesses with an all-in-one waste and recycling solution, offering deep insights into your waste streams to enable informed decision-making and actions across all your locations. Rubicon helps customers achieve sustainability goals with tailored zero waste solutions, leveraging our longstanding relationships with more than 8,000 vendor and hauler partners. To learn more, visit rubicon.com.

Supermarket News is the brand food-retail professionals count on for competitive intelligence, news, and information to make smart business decisions. Retailers, manufacturers, brokers, analysts, association executives and others connected to the industry consider Supermarket News as their primary information source as we continue to lead the way with the most experienced team of full-time editors dedicated to maintaining the integrity and objectivity demanded by our audience. For more information, visit supermarketnews.com.

At The Kroger Co., we are dedicated to our Purpose: To Feed the Human Spirit™. We are, across our family of companies nearly half a million associates who serve over 11 million customers daily through a seamless digital shopping experience and retail food stores under a variety of banner names, serving America through food inspiration and uplift, and creating #ZeroHungerZeroWaste communities by 2025. To learn more about us, visit our newsroom and investor relations site.

Divert, Inc. is an impact technology company on a mission to Protect the Value of Food™. Founded in 2007, the company creates advanced technologies and sustainable infrastructure to eliminate wasted food, driving social and environmental impact. Divert provides an end-to-end solution that prevents waste by maximizing the freshness of food, recovers edible food to serve communities in need, and converts wasted food into renewable energy. The company works with five Fortune 100 companies and over 5,600 retail stores across the U.S., helping food retailers to reach their sustainability goals. For more information on Divert, Inc., please visit www.divertinc.com.

 

Ahold Delhaize USA, a division of global food retailer Ahold Delhaize, is part of the U.S. family of brands, which also includes five leading omnichannel grocery brands – Food Lion, Giant Food, The GIANT Company, Hannaford and Stop & Shop. When considered together, the companies of Ahold Delhaize USA comprise the largest grocery retail group on the East Coast and the fourth largest grocery retail group in the nation, serving millions of omnichannel customers each week. For more information, visit www.adusa.com.

Rethink Food is an NYC-based nonprofit organization with the mission of creating a more sustainable and equitable food system. In partnership with a network of local restaurants, community-based organizations, and food donors across the food system, Rethink Food has provided 23+ million meals to local communities facing food insecurity and directed over 95+ million dollars to small local restaurants and businesses. Since its creation in 2017, Rethink Food has also repurposed over 2.3 million pounds of excess food. To learn more, visit rethinkfood.org and follow @rethinkfood on Instagram and X.

Viably (formerly Komptech Americas) is the leading supplier of innovative technology solutions for the waste and recycling industry across North America. With a specialized product portfolio of over 40 machines, a consultative approach to solutions development for customers, and unmatched after-sales support, including parts and technical service, we empower our clients with new capabilities to help them evolve their business and protect our planet. We are proud to be the North American master distributor of Komptech equipment and Harp Renewables biodigesters, as well as the exclusive U.S. distributor of Scott Equipment Company’s range of separators and depackagers. For more information, visit thinkviably.com.

Three Square is Southern Nevada’s only food bank and largest hunger relief organization, serving Las Vegas and all of Clark, Lincoln, Esmeralda and Nye counties. Since opening in 2007, Three Square has provided more than 550 million pounds of food to hundreds of thousands of people in need and earned a reputation as one of the most efficient and effective food banks in the country. A member of the Feeding America network of food banks, Three Square remains committed to its mission of providing wholesome food to hungry people, while passionately pursuing a hunger-free community.

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