Purpose/Mission Statement: The Creating a Regenerative Community Food System Work Team promotes collaboration among community members by reducing food waste in the waste management system while improving local communities. In order to prevent and divert wasted food from its associated impacts, multiple components of this Work Team will address aspects of the food system including the different layers of the Food Recovery Hierarchy, recommended by the Environmental Protection Agency.
Goal(s): The goal of this Work Team is to work together to establish connections participants in our local food system. We aim to divert food surplus from the waste stream by facilitating edible food recovery and food scrap donation for composting which will help to grow more food locally. More locally grown food will supply more healthy food to more people, with a goal to bring the surplus food to our local charities. The Work Team hopes to inspire community members to manage their food in a more sustainable way. Specific goals are: Continue to grow the number of participants in WNF on the charity, business, and compost levels; Work with local gardens (community and private) to offer food surplus from their harvests in the WNF app; Work with local markets to offer food surplus from their stands/stores in the WNF app; Develop a system to offer finished compost to our target population (lower income families) so that they may grow food at home; Secure funding
Activities: Tampa Bay Network to End Hunger (TBNEH) developed and launched “Creating a Regenerative Community Food System” pilot program in 2019 to help divert food surplus from the waste stream in Pinellas County, in partnership with Foundation for a Healthy St. Petersburg.
Contact: To join this Work Team or learn more, please contact Amanda Streets, Pinellas Community Compost and Work Team Chair at Amanda@PinellasCommunityCompost.com.
Team Members
Chair: Amanda Streets, Pinellas Community Composting Alliance, CompostingAlliance@gmail.com
Members:
Ace Padian, Tampa Bay Network to End Hunger
Chloe Kidd, Tampa Bay Network to End Hunger
Caitlyn Peacock, Tampa Bay Network to End Hunger
Toni Thomas, Tampa Bay Network to End Hunger