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Sustainable Food Management Virtual Summit
For the greater Lincoln community
This collaborative event was held on Nov. 10 and Nov. 17 to engage stakeholders to network and discuss the greater Lincoln food system. The goal of this event was to find feasible solutions that will reduce food waste and increase access to healthy food for all. Since this event occurred, participants are meeting regularly and developing new partnerships to reduce wasted food in the Lincoln and Southeast Nebraska area.
Summit Presentations
November 10 | Main Session/Introduction Slides | Breakout Session Summary
November 17 | Main Session/Introduction Slides | Breakout Session Summary
Keynote Presentations
“We Have Food Waste Solutions”
Beth Ostdiek Smith, President/CEO/Founder, Saving Grace Food Rescue
“Understanding Liability Protection and Tax Incentives for Food Donation in Nebraska”
Ariel Ardura, Clinical Fellow, Harvard Law School Food Law and Policy Clinic
“EPA’s Food Opportunity Map”
Claudia Fabiano, Sustainable Food Management, EPA
Summit Resources
City of Lincoln Composting for Residents
City of Lincoln Organic Waste Composting Guide for Businesses
Community Crops coordinates many community gardens in Lincoln, Nebraska. The gardens are spread throughout the city to accommodate our participants. Our gardeners come from many different backgrounds and together they beautify our city while growing food for themselves.
Every Bite Counts (EBC) is focused on reducing food waste on the University of Nebraska's campus and raising awareness about food insecurities in the surrounding community.
Food Bank for the Heartland is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization with a vital focus: to provide food to those struggling with hunger in Nebraska and western Iowa, to ultimately eliminate hunger in our communities, and to serve our neighbors with respect, integrity and urgency. The Food Bank serves 93 counties—77 in Nebraska and 16 in western Iowa.
The Food Bank of Lincoln focuses on alleviating hunger in southeast Nebraska. Through many services, the Food Bank serves 16 counties: Polk, York, Fillmore, Thayer, Butler, Seward, Saline, Jefferson, Saunders, Lancaster, Gage, Otoe, Johnson, Pawnee, Nemaha and Richardson.
Food for Thought seeks to reduce child hunger through a weekend backpack program.
Foodnet Lincoln is a group of volunteers from many different churches and other non-profit organizations trying to stop the waste of food and provide for those in need. We collect food from donors for distribution at our sites around the Lincoln area each day.
Keep Nebraska Beautiful is dedicated to increasing awareness of the problem of food waste and providing strategies to help reduce food waste from farm to fork.
Lincoln and Lancaster County Waste Reduction Guide
The Lincoln-Lancaster County Food Policy Council is a diverse group of farmers, gardeners, businesses, organizations, and individuals with one thing in common: we care about improving the local food system.
The Center for Rural Affairs works with rural communities to build healthy, sustainable, local food systems. The goal is to create food production and distribution systems that provide affordable fresh food for all, protect the environment, and keep money circulating in the local economy.
Community food systems take many forms, but they all have the same purpose: to connect the local people who grow and make food with the local people who eat it.
Read "Biting into Food Access: A View of Nebraska's Food System
In Nebraska, yard waste is banned from landfills, which saves 150,000 tons of yard waste from going to the landfill annually. It is often mixed with sewage sludge and made into compost available to the public. Many municipalities have also added food waste to their compost operations. Search your city for more information.
NEBRASKA DATE LABELING REGULATIONS
Date labels are the dates stamped on food items and accompanied by phrases such as
“sell by,” “use by,” or “best by.” These dates are generally intended to communicate
food quality, not food safety. Nevertheless, they exert a powerful influence on consumers
and food vendors, who rely on these labels when deciding whether or not to throw food
away. Under current federal law, date labels remain almost entirely unregulated, except
for use on infant formula. States have filled this void with a variety of inconsistent
date labeling regulations that often fail to reflect the distinction between food
safety and food quality.
Nebraska does not have any laws that bear on food date labels.
Saving Grace Perishable Food Rescue believes it just makes sense to feed the hungry with excess perishable food that would otherwise be wasted. They serve their mission by connecting perishable food from local food purveyors to local nonprofits that feed our hungry, while raising awareness and educating the community on wasted food and hunger.
Nebraska Revised Statute 25-21,189.
Food; donations; limitations on liability.
Waste to Energy Lincoln (WTEL), a division of Uribe Refuse Services, Inc., is Lincoln’s premiere organic waste recycling service. Providing food waste collection services to businesses, institutions, special events, and homes in Lincoln and surrounding communities across southeast Nebraska.
Currently, WTEL is working with schools and businesses across Lincoln to divert food waste by collecting and hauling it to local compost facilities. They have successfully diverted over 1,000 tons of food waste from the landfill. Read more
About Wichita State University Environmental Finance Center
WSU Environmental Finance Center serves communities in EPA Region 7 (Kansas, Iowa, Missouri and Nebraska). Our projects leverage federal and state grants that focus on research and innovative approaches to environmental policy, protection and management, especially the "how to pay" questions necessary for environmental improvements.
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This project has been funded wholly or in part by the United States Environmental Protection Agency under assistance agreement #AI97756601 to Wichita State University Environmental Finance Center. The contents of this page do not necessarily reflect the views and policies of the Environmental Protection Agency, nor does the EPA endorse trade names or recommend the use of commercial products mentioned on this page.