Davenport, IA – This month, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency recognized a Quad Cities coalition, the Food Rescue Partnership, as one of its 2017 Food Recovery Challenge (FRC) Regional Award winners.
Each year the FRC selects national and regional winners based on their wasted food prevention and diversion activities. The Food Rescue Partnership was selected as an award winner in Region 7.
“This award is a testament to our extraordinary stakeholders and partners whose commitment to a Quad Cities that promotes rescuing food for its best possible use continues to drive us to be a community dedicated to eliminating food waste,” says Pete Vogel, FRP Board Chair.
In 2017, the Food Rescue Partnership worked with local organizations and businesses to get over 3,700 pounds of food donated to local non-profit hunger relief agencies, food that may have otherwise just been thrown away.
Since its start in 2013, the coalition’s stakeholders and partners have focused on promoting rescuing food for its best possible use and while the primary focus is to feed hungry people, the coalition also connects professional food establishments and retail food stores to local resources on feeding animals and composting, following the U.S. EPA’s Food Recovery Hierarchy.
With the Food Rescue Partnership already meeting the criteria of the FRC, educating organizations and businesses about the benefits of preventing and diverting wasted food, it was a natural fit to join the challenge when the U.S. EPA Region 7 representatives reached out in 2016. The Food Rescue Partnership officially became an endorser in the FRC in June 2016.
For more information about the Food Rescue Partnership, visit foodrescueqc.org.
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About the Food Rescue Partnership. Initially created by the Scott County Health Department in 2015, the Quad Cities Food Rescue Partnership is now a community-led coalition that promotes rescuing food for its best possible use in an effort to lead the Quad Cities to become a community dedicated to eliminating food waste.
