Hello! I’m Erik, Food Resource Retail Coordinator at Community Food Share. With sustainability increasingly at the forefront for many shoppers, I want to share how our grocery rescue program provides nutritious food to local communities and significantly reduces emissions and waste.
What’s the Link Between Food Rescue and Sustainability?
Every year, nearly 40% of all food produced in the U.S. is wasted. That’s a tremendous amount of lost energy, water, and resources, not to mention missed opportunities to feed those in need. Wasted food typically ends up in landfills, and while it decomposes there, the lack of sufficient airflow prevents proper composting. Instead, this food produces methane—a greenhouse gas about 80 times more effective at trapping heat than carbon dioxide (CO2).
Right now, the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment is actively working to reduce landfill methane emissions across the state. Community Food Share’s grocery rescue program directly supports these efforts by diverting food waste from landfills, significantly cutting down harmful methane emissions.
How Does Community Food Share’s Grocery Program Help the Environment?
In 2024 alone, we rescued approximately 3.85 million pounds of food from grocery retail partners throughout Boulder and Broomfield Counties. This prevented around 6,190 metric tons of CO2 equivalent (CO2e)—the greenhouse gas primarily responsible for global warming—from entering the atmosphere. To put this into perspective, that’s the equivalent of removing 15.75 million miles driven by an average gas-powered vehicle!
What Happens to Food We Can’t Use?
Over 30% of our rescued groceries are fresh produce. Although our goal is to distribute as much as possible to our community, some items inevitably can’t be shared. Thanks to our incredible volunteers, unusable produce is separated and set aside for local pig farmers to collect as animal feed. Similarly, meat products that don’t meet our safety standards—like those with open packaging or past expiration dates—are donated to a local wolf sanctuary. Nothing goes to waste!
What About Pre-Packaged Foods?
Many products we receive come in packaging that we carefully manage to minimize waste. Our volunteers diligently separate recyclable packaging from what needs to be discarded. Through our partnership with Eco-Cycle in Boulder, we’re able to recycle much of this material—not just from grocery rescues but throughout our warehouse operations as well. In fact, in 2024, our facility achieved impressive waste reduction metrics (specific figures coming soon from our COO!).
We pride ourselves not only on providing nutritious food to our communities but also on serving as responsible environmental stewards in the fight to end hunger across Boulder and Broomfield Counties.
Want to Get Involved?
If you’re inspired by our impact and want to help further our mission, consider volunteering or making a donation—we’re always looking for additional support! If you’re a grocery store employee or representative interested in learning more about our grocery rescue program, please reach out to see how you can become a partner in sustainability and hunger relief.
