530 Food Rescue Coalition

Facilitating the pickup of excess food & delivering it to neighborhood food programs.

The Community Action Agency of Butte County, Inc. (CAA) and the
Center for Healthy Communities at CSUC have partnered to create the 530 Food Rescue Coalition (530 FRC). The 530 FRC works primarily to promote the reduction of food insecurity. It accomplishes this goal through facilitating food donation and pick-up connections, redirecting excess food away from landfills, and utilizing non-edible food for animal feed and compost in our Northern California region.The 530 Food Rescue Coalition is a leader in the effort to keep discarded edible food from adding to undesirable greenhouse gas creation. The 530 FRC facilitates the pick up of excess perishable and prepared food from businesses e.g. restaurants, caterers, bakeries, hospitals, event planners, corporate cafeterias, hotels and the delivery of it to neighborhood food programs.

Good for People • Good for the Community • Good for the Environment.

Join Our Team

Food Donor Partner

Are you an Organization or Business with excess perishable food to donate? Donors range from large food distributors to small mom-and-pop stores, restaurant chains, farms and even other nonprofits. Food donations are supported and encouraged by the federal Good Samaritan Food Donation Act and the California Health Code. So donors are protected from liability when donating to a nonprofit.

Food Rescue Heroes

Are you a person who wants to help people and our environment at the same time? You can rescue food using our easy App on your phone! Heroes are any member of our community who can download the app, create a profile, and help move food from Donors to Distributors. It can be an individual or a small group activity.

Distribution Food Partner

Are you a Non-Profit Organization who could feed hungry people? Distributors are nonprofits ranging from food warehouses to small food pantries, Community Based Organizations, foundations, and faith-based organizations.

News

Our Partners

Center for Healthy Communities at CSU, Chico

Our Challenge

Food Waste

Food waste is the single largest component of municipal landfills. According to the USDA, 30-40% of food is wasted in the U.S. This waste food winds up in local landfills where it produces 20% of the state's methane gases. Methane gas is 84 times more polluting and harmful than carbon dioxide. Food that is still edible can and should be redirected to agencies and food pantries so it can still be used to nourish others whose economic circumstances leave them in need of food. Food that is no longer edible is now being used in productive ways that don't create more greenhouse gasses in a landfill. These ways include using it for compost, animal feed or using it to create power like Liquid Natural Gas (LNG) using the anaerobic biodigester located in Butte County.

The 530 FRC program will help support Butte County to reach its goals that each county must meet under SB 1383 to reduce organic waste in landfills by 75% and to recover 20% of edible food for human consumption.

The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) defines food insecurity as a lack of consistent access to enough food for an active, healthy life.[2] It is important to know that though hunger and food insecurity are closely related, they are distinct concepts. Hunger refers to a personal, physical sensation of discomfort, while food insecurity refers to a lack of available financial resources for food at the household level. -Feeding America

Food Insecurity

Food insecurity is the inability to get culturally appropriate foods that are needed to sustain the individual or family. According to the CAA North State Food Bank, 1 in 4 children experience food insecurity and 1 in 5 families struggle with hunger difficulties. This may look like not enough money for food, inadequate accessibility for food, not the right kinds of food available, or a number of different factors.

Food Waste According to USDA

Percent

Our Solution

Technology

The 530 Food Rescue Coalition is deploying a technology powered, community-driven solution to food waste and hunger. We combine technology, last-mile logistics and community engagement to create a new regional food recovery and redistribution network that effectively delivers fresh and highly perishable food directly to those who need it most. Our easy-to-install 530 Food Rescue app can mobilize thousands of volunteers at the touch of a screen. While our innovative last-mile logistics rescues and redistributes fresh food in real-time; reducing traditional donation barriers to food retailers and delivering food directly to where people live, work and learn.

Focusing on the logistical challenges of retail food recovery, 530 FRC addresses both problems through technology-coordinated, community-powered networks. Through the app, volunteer drivers are alerted when surplus food is available to be picked up near them. We focus on rescuing perishable and nonperishable foods, from dairy and bakery items to produce, deli, meats, and prepared items, along with canned and packaged goods.

Coming soon to the Apple App Store

Coming soon to the Google Play Store

Community Engagement

Technology alone won't solve this problem. But community action has the power to ignite individual, collective and systemic change and create a movement. This model merges technology, civic engagement, and public-private partnerships to introduce a new transport and distribution model that transforms surplus food into a resource and changes the way we approach food access. The process is simple: overage food from restaurants, grocers, corporate cafeterias, schools, and more is collected and delivered directly to nonprofit shelters, missions, pantries, and center where it is used to feed people who are disadvantaged and food insecure. Food is donated and distributed free of charge within or near the same community from which it came. Each individual food rescue is completed with the help of staff drivers and a network of volunteers allowing the 530 FRC to rescue millions of pounds of food annually. All of this is done through our volunteer mobilization app, 530 Food Rescue, which you can download in the Apple App Store and Google Play Store.

The 530 FRC is a great way to engage our local student population. Students are excited at the prospect and project of food rescue. This is also an ample opportunity for anyone to be able to volunteer at times that fit their schedule. If someone has a half hour to donate their time, they can pick up a donation and distribute it. Someone who commutes from more populated areas to more rural areas would be able to pick up a donation and deliver it to a food pantry in more rural areas of their community that has less access to food.

Grocers, restaurant owners and farmers can take part because this effort is aimed at the entire food system. Restaurants can donate their food or left over produce, farmers could opt in for waste for their compost or feed needs. This program has the opportunity to connect people in a way that we think they are craving. Helping feed one another and taking care of our fellow community members goes beyond food and the food cycle. Following are the ways that you can be involved in accomplishing a lot of good for people, for our community and our environment.

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530 Food Rescue Coalition