The Indiana Recycling Coalition received a $50,000 grant that will go towards its Commercial Food Composting Program to help reduce food waste.
The U.S. spends more than $200 billion a year to make food that is never eaten. One in 7 Americans are food insecure, despite the 52 million tons of food sent to a landfill each year, according to the group ReFED.
Carey Hamilton, executive director of the Indiana Recycling Coalition, says when food waste can't be reduced where it's produced, composting can have many benefits, including "creating a rich soil product."
"And there's a significant carbon reduction benefit to composting versus disposal of organic products in land fills," says Hamilton.
The Indiana Recycling Coalition will coordinate among partners who produce food waste, transport it, and compost it.
Hamilton hopes the work started with the grant will snowball and the program will become financially sustainable once the grant money runs out next year.
The Indiana Recycling Coalition's grant is 1 of 8 awarded to recipients across the country from The Closed Loop Foundation. The group is spending $350,000 on the awards to aid in food waste reduction efforts.