Ending Food Waste Within a Generation: Upcoming Project to Expand Compost Use

In September 2025, the World Wildlife Fund (WWF), ReFED, WRAP Americas, the Ad Council, the US Composting Council (USCC), and the Institute for Local Self-Reliance (ILSR) formed a coalition to launch a five-year program, “Ending Food Waste Within a Generation,” to reduce wasted food and expand composting in the United States. This program will create systemic change by combining a national media campaign, compost market development, and local community capacity building. 
 
The Challenge: Food loss and waste is a major economic, environmental, and social challenge in the U.S. Food loss and waste (FLW) strains waste systems and undermines food security.  

Reducing wasted food benefits everyone.  

• The average American family wastes nearly $3,000 each year on uneaten food. Reducing wasted food helps Americans save money.
• 30–40% of the U.S. food supply is wasted each year, and food remains the single largest material in landfills. 
• An estimated 1.06 billion pounds of food in school cafeterias is wasted each year. 
• Millions of Americans don't have enough to eat. Reducing food waste improves food security for our families and communities.

Purpose of the program:  
To create a national-scale, systematic change by integrating:  

• A national media campaign  
• Compost market and infrastructure development
• Local community education and capacity building 

Core targets by 2030:  

1. Reducing wasted food: The coalition plans to implement a national program to reduce wasted food by 10% nationally and 20% in targeted communities. 
2. Building compost markets and infrastructure: By expanding citizen outreach, our coalition will work to increase household composting participation by 50% and reduce contamination by 50% in targeted communities. The coalition also aims to increase demand for compost in non-agricultural sectors—stormwater management, landscaping, wildfire recovery, brownfields, and green infrastructure—by at least 40% (20M tons).  
3. Creating American jobs in resource recovery: 
   • 1,000+ new American jobs created.  
   • 100+ collaborators engaged in the program.  
   • 25+ new compost-related policies adopted.  

The program runs from September 1, 2025, to August 31, 2030.