Faith Organizations and EPA's Food Recovery Challenge (FRC)
On this page
- How to Join the FRC
- Benefits of Joining the Food Recovery Challenge
- Technical Assistance and Resources
- Be Recognized
- What Can I Do?
EPA's Food Recovery Challenge (FRC) charges organizations and businesses to prevent and reduce wasted food. By joining the FRC, faith organizations can help redirect good, wholesome food away from landfills and to food pantries and soup kitchens where it can be used to feed the world's most vulnerable populations.
There are two ways that faith organizations can participate in EPA’s FRC - as endorsers or participants.
- Endorsers promote sustainable food management by educating organizations about the environmental consequences of wasted food and recruiting Food Recovery Challenge participants.
- Participants reduce wasted food through prevention, donation, composting and anaerobic digestion.
How to Join the FRC
If you join as an endorser, you can highlight wasted food topics using your weekly bulletins, websites and social media or assist in creating donation networks in your congregation's communities. Learn more about endorsers and how to join.
If you join as a participant, you can donate any leftover food from your schools and events to food pantries or compost your food waste for use in community gardens and other community activities. Find out more about the FRC and follow the steps to join.
Benefits of Joining the Food Recovery Challenge
- Help our environment by diverting food from landfills.
- Help communities by using leftover food to feed hungry people.
- Save money from reduced purchasing and waste disposal fees.
Technical Assistance and Resources
- Check out resources tailored for faith facilities, congregations, communities and individuals.
- Get free technical assistance through prevention and diversion-related tools.
- Contact the Food Recovery Challenge representative in your area for assistance.
Be Recognized
- EPA offers yearly data and narrative awards at the national and regional level.
- For data awards –your organization will be considered for a Faith Organization award.
- For narrative awards – your organization will be eligible to apply to any of our narrative award categories
What Can I Do?
- Learn about wasted food issues and how to reduce wasted food.
- Donate edible food.
- Compost what cannot be donated.
- Work with your community and schools to raise awareness about wasted food and hunger issues.
- Encourage your community or organizations you are associated with to join the Food Recovery Challenge.