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Meal Recovery Coalition

A Revolutionary New Food System for New Jersey

WHAT IS MEAL RECOVERY?

Meal recovery is an innovative approach to addressing the significant issues of food insecurity and food waste.

Everyday, thousands of healthy meals prepared in corporate and other large cafeterias and food service programs are uneaten and sent to landfills, where they generate greenhouse gases and impact the environment.

Meal recovery programs collect the surplus meals from cafeterias and food service providers and deliver them directly to local families in need at their homes or through a network of community partners.

Meal recovery complements the efforts of traditional food resources such as food pantries and community kitchens, and substantially increases the amount and types of healthy food available to those who are hungry in our communities.

Introducing THE MEAL RECOVERY COALITION

An innovative new alliance, the Meal Recovery Coalition (MRC) brings together New Jersey corporations, hospitals and educational institutions, government entities, nonprofit organizations and individual volunteers, to work together to make meal recovery the norm in New Jersey.

New Jersey Residents face hunger daily

Learn more ABOUT FOOD INSECURITY IN NJ

While people are Facing Food Insecurity, Good Food is Going to Waste

Food Waste Creates Dangerous Greenhouse Gases

Tons of Surplus Food

(produced each year)

Source: ReFED/2022 Data
(Published 11/23)

U.S. GHG Emissions

Source: ReFED/2022 Data
(Published 11/23)

Landfill Inputs

(EPA estimate)

Source: ReFED/2022 Data
(Published 11/23)

LEARN MORE ABOUT FOOD WASTE

Striving to Make Meal Recovery the Norm in New Jersey

The Meal Recovery Coalition is working to grow meal recovery statewide by:

Raising Awareness

Elevating the profile of meal recovery as a complementary food source to boost supply for the food insecure.

Fostering Collaboration

Encouraging cooperation among private, nonprofit, and government stakeholders to extend the reach of meal recovery initiatives.

Building a Scalable Model

Developing a sustainable and scalable model that can be replicated nationwide.

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The MRC is thinking beyond New Jersey and will create a template for meal recovery that is replicable in other states and countries.

This business-driven, statewide meal recovery initiative has the potential to bring meaningful change to the citizens of New Jersey—and the rest of the nation.

The MRC is driven by Share My Meals , a New Jersey-based nonprofit meal recovery organization that has led the development of robust processes and an integrated technology platform needed to safely implement meal recovery at a previously inconceivable scale.

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Meal Recovery is making an Impact

The Meal Recovery Coalition is tracking its impact by recording the number of meals provided to the hungry and the amount of food waste pollution averted.

Meal Recovery Coalition Impact Dashboard*

189,000

Number of meals served

1,089,684

CO2 emissions averted in lbs

257,273

Equivalent lbs of food recovered

*as of September 31, 2024

Ambitious goals for meal recovery in New Jersey

Share My Meals estimates that 5 million prepared meals each year are sent to landfills from large cafeterias and event venues.

In 2023, SMM recovered 63,000 meals or just over 1%.

The MRC members are working to recover 500,000 meals per year by 2026, to feed an estimated 6,400 people per week.

Ultimately, The MRC strives to recover all the excess prepared meals, increasing the food resources available to fight food insecurity and make meal recovery the norm in New Jersey.

SCALING MEAL RECOVERY STATEWIDE

To achieve its goal of recovering the estimated 5 million surplus prepared meals, the MRC is recruiting more corporate, educational and healthcare members with large cafeterias, along with other food service providers. They are working with nonprofits in their communities to deliver the meals to those in need. And they are connecting with government officials to make meal recovery the norm across the state.

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THE TECHnology

The MRC leverages Share My Meals’ meal recovery process:

A cycle of safe, dependable pick-up and delivery of reusable, trackable trays of surplus food, directed and monitored by the technology to ensure transit time out of refrigeration is logged in and that food is delivered within an established timeframe based on availability and need. The recipients receive a meal ready to put on the table, or to be refrigerated for the next day.

Groundbreaking technology underpins the meal recovery program to track meals from pick up to deliver. It was developed with Share My Meals through the generous donation of time and talent of Accenture using the Salesforce application.

The STAN tool records and reports meals recovered, carbon dioxide emissions saved and equivalent pounds of food saved to show the impact: two problems addressed with one safe solution.

The Meal Recovery Coalition Partners and Supporters

Meal recovery is complex. It requires food donors, volunteers, recipients, and nonprofits to all work together daily to cooperate and make this supply chain operate. The MRC is bringing together a broad coalition of stakeholders, including public and private entities, to take meal recovery statewide and make significant progress in addressing food insecurity in New Jersey.

Corporations, hospitals and
educational organizations

As good citizens, these MRC members are investing in the New Jersey communities where they operate, supporting their neighbors and reducing their environmental footprint.

Public Sector

Policymakers, government officials, and regulatory agencies focused on addressing food insecurity and positively impacting on the environment are working to make meal recovery the norm.

The New Jersey Economic Development Authority is a founding sponsor of the Meal Recovery Coalition as an innovative, cost effective, and environmentally friendly approach to combating food insecurity.

Non-profits

Nonprofits are joining the MRC in making meal recovery the norm throughout New Jersey and ensuring recovered meals go to those who need them most. They receive the meals recovered and serve them to members of their community who are facing food insecurity.

Volunteers

Individual citizens of New Jersey care about their neighbors and their environment. Meal recovery relies on individual or corporate volunteers to transport the meals from the cafeterias where they are prepared, to the tables where they are eaten. The MRC is grateful to all individuals who are part of meal recovery.

VOLUNTEER

Share My Meals

Share My Meals is the driving force behind meal recovery efforts, having launched their local meal recovery program in multiple counties in New Jersey and developed a proven methodology, they are now facilitating the initiative’s expansion to a statewide effort.

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