Fighting food waste at the legislative level
A quick guide to California bills
In California and around the country, too many Americans simply don’t have enough to eat. According to Feeding America, 1 in 8 Americans are food insecure, including more than 12 million kids. At the same time, more than one-third of our food supply goes to waste.
That’s why DoorDash launched Project DASH in January 2018 — to use the technology we’ve built, our resources, and our voice to act for sustainability and fight hunger.
Today, we want to highlight the leadership of the Northern California Recycling Association, which recently hosted the Zero Food Waste Forum in Berkeley to shine a spotlight on steps our home state has taken to help our most vulnerable neighbors while reducing food waste.
The Forum noted several recently-enacted laws in California to help combat waste statewide. These initiatives are an important part of the fight against hunger and food waste, and we believe they should be more widely understood to help dispel taboos around food donations.
Here’s a rundown.
AB 1826 (2014): To require certain businesses to recycle organic waste and local jurisdictions to implement organic waste recycling programs to divert waste generated by businesses.
SB 1383 (2016): To reduce the disposal of organic waste by 75%, with 20% recovered for human consumption, by 2025.
AB 954 (2017): To promote the use of clearer food date labels like “BEST if Used by” or “BEST if Used or Frozen by” to indicate freshness date labels, and “Use by” or “Use or Freeze by” to indicate safety date labels.
SB 557 (2017): To allow the donation of food and milk from school share tables. Share tables are a practice in school cafeterias: since children are picky eaters and often take more than they can eat, they are allowed to put what they don’t want on share tables.
AB 1219 (2017): To clarify and strengthen the Good Samaritan law that protect donors from liability when donating surplus food to people in need.
DoorDash is proud to partner with restaurants, food pantries, and food recovery platforms to connect surplus food to those who need it while helping businesses reduce waste and improve their operations.
Are you a merchant interested in donating surplus food through Project DASH, our initiative facilitating deliveries of food donations to local hunger relief agencies? Contact projectdash@doordash.com.
