Pallone, Booker Team Up With EPA, BJ’s Wholesale Club to Tackle Environmental, Economic Impacts of Food Waste

For Immediate release:
9/22/14

EDISON, NJ – Today, Congressman Frank Pallone (NJ-06) and U.S. Senator Cory Booker (D-NJ) joined U.S. Environmental Protection Agency Regional Administrator Judith A. Enck to highlight Hunger Action month. They visited a BJ’s Wholesale Club in Edison, New Jersey to announce the store’s participation in the EPA Food Recovery Challenge Program that reduces food waste and hunger while also protecting the environment. They were also joined by BJ’s Wholesale Club’s Doug Schiefelbein, Community Food Bank of New Jersey’s (CFBNJ) Tristan Wallack, and Edison Mayor Thomas Lankey.

 (Cory Booker, Frank Pallone, Judith Enck, Tristan Wallack. Credit:EPA)

“Thirty-one percent of food that is available at supermarkets, restaurants, and in households goes uneaten and ends up in a landfill,” said Congressman Pallone. “Meanwhile, millions of Americans struggle every day to put food on the table and feed their families. The Food Recovery Challenge tackles both of these critical issues by reducing the amount of food that goes unsold and recovering more wholesome unsold food to donate to people who really need it. I commend EPA for organizing this campaign to reduce food waste and BJ’s for participating.”

Participants in EPA’s Food Recovery Challenge reduce, donate, and compost as much of their excess food as possible, which saves money, feeds hungry people and helps protect the environment. As part of this new agreement, BJ’s plans to develop new benchmarks to measure progress from its food donation program BJ’s Feeding Communities as well as utilize EPA’s tools to enhance its environmental programs and minimize its environmental footprint.

“A staggering amount of nutritious and edible food is wasted every day, winding up in landfills where it produces methane gas,” said Judith A. Enck, EPA Regional Administrator. “EPA commends BJ’s Wholesale Club for being part of the commitment to feed people and not landfills.”

Fourteen percent of New Jerseyans live in a state of food insecurity, and 50 million Americans live in households that struggle against hunger. Food accounts for the greatest percentage – more than 20 percent - of waste going to landfills in the United States. One way to reduce that volume of waste is by donating edible food that would otherwise be thrown away.

“Hunger is persistent problem in New Jersey and across the nation,” said Senator Booker. “Yet each year Americans waste more than 36 million tons of food - 96 percent of which is thrown into landfills and incinerators. I commend the EPA, BJ’s and all the other participants in the Food Recovery Challenge because the only way we truly tackle complex problems is through public/private partnership. Committing to this challenge isn’t just good for society - it’s good for the bottom line.”

In addition to being the first wholesale club to join the Food Recovery Challenge, BJ’s also recently awarded a grant of $21,000 to the Community Food Bank of New Jersey in honor of the company’s 30th anniversary and Hunger Action Month in September. The grant will help the Community Food Bank of New Jersey build capacity through the purchase of additional refrigerators, thermal blankets and other equipment for their partner organizations such as local soup kitchens and food pantries. The new equipment will help their anti-hunger partners store a larger amount of perishable items and distribute more nutritious options to local families struggling with food insecurity in New Jersey.

“At BJ’s Wholesale Club, what is not sold, is shared; we have a vested interest in addressing and helping to solve the very real problems of hunger prevention in our local communities,” said Doug Schiefelbein, general manager of the BJ’s Wholesale Club in Edison, New Jersey. “BJ’s Wholesale Club is proud to join the United States Environmental Protection Agency’s Food Recovery Challenge. We look forward to working together with the EPA to help keep food out of landfills and minimize greenhouse gas emissions to better the neighborhoods we serve.”

EPA’s Food Recovery Challenge is based on the fact that wasted food has economic, environmental, and social impacts. Much of this waste is not waste at all, but actually safe, wholesome food that could potentially feed millions of Americans. Excess food, leftovers and scraps that are not fit for consumption and donation can be composted into a nutrient-rich soil supplement. There is also a tremendous waste of energy and natural resources that goes to the growth, processing, transporting and marketing of food, all of which goes to waste when food is thrown away. A full list of the 600 participants can be found at Food Recovery Challenge.

Cuts Have Consequences

From the e-Newsletter of Congressman Rush Holt

Hunger is a very real and mounting problem in our community. The Community FoodBank of New Jersey reports that, since 2008, demand for their services has increased by an unprecedented 46 percent. Much of the need has come from families who were firmly anchored in the middle class until, through no fault of their own, they suffered a job loss in the recession.

Yet even as the toll of hunger has increased, the House Majority has sought to radically cut programs that fight hunger in New Jersey and across America. The Ryan Budget, which I opposed, would slash the Food Stamp program by $36 billion over ten years, leading 2 million Americans to lose access to Food Stamps and curtailing benefits for 44 million more.

Let’s be clear: Food Stamps already provide only the barest of safety nets to vulnerable families. The average benefit is just $31.50 per week – about a dollar and a half per meal. If you are fortunate enough to ordinarily live on a much more comfortable food budget, I encourage you to try purchasing a week’s worth of food at this price, as I did late last year. You will discover, in a profound and troubling way, the fragility of our safety-net programs. Now imagine how much more difficult your task would be if Food Stamps were cut further!

The Ryan Budget would do even more to take food off the table of the hungry. It would permanently eliminate the Social Services Block Grant program, which provides vital support for Meals on Wheels, child care, and child protective services. New Jersey has received $48.1 million through this program in 2012 alone.

In a time of great need, I find it incomprehensible that the Republican majority would further shred our social safety net in order to cut taxes on millionaires and preserve a bloated Defense Department budget.

This is one in a series on the impact of the so-called Ryan Budget, the House Majority’s plan for the federal government. The budget passed the U.S. House of Representatives in March on a mostly party-line vote.

Sincerely,

Rush Holt
Member of Congress

NJPP Monday Minute 11/22/10: Giving Thanks

This week, most of us will enjoy a fabulous Thanksgiving feast. Our holiday will be marked by an abundance of family and football and food, all in joyous testament to the good fortune we enjoy. Our tables will be set so full that by Sunday surely there may be recriminations over the monotony -- if not the extravagance -- of all the leftovers from a 26-pound turkey with all the trimmings.

We must indeed find time this week to give thanks for our good fortune. We must be mindful of the shared spirit of that first Thanksgiving at Plymouth Plantation, nearly 400 years ago, when the Pilgrims celebrated the harvest in community with the Wampanoag people.

And we must also recognize that these times are not plentiful for every one of us.

In fact, 24.1 million Americans are living in poverty, more than at any time in our nation's history, according to the U.S. Census Bureau. The economic recession has kept unemployment over 9.5 percent for more than a year. Home foreclosures are at record levels. Homelessness is on the rise. Last week, the U.S. Department of Agriculture's Economic Research Service reported that 50 million Americans, including 17 million children, do not have consistent access to a nutritious, well-balanced diet.

This lack of plenty is evident at food pantries across New Jersey, which are seeing a 30 percent increase in demand over last year, according to Anthony Guido of the Community FoodBank of New Jersey. That's all the more remarkable considering that the Community FoodBank assisted 1,600 agencies in distributing 35 million pounds of food to 830,000 people last year, a 45 percent increase from 2005.

"Times are tough all around," Guido told WBGO radio. "Our agencies will give out the food as soon as we can get it to them. That means as soon as we collect it and bring it into the food bank, it goes right back out to the charities in need."

The need could have been much greater.

Amid all the budget trauma in New Jersey, the Christie administration and the Legislature protected state funding for a vital initiative in the Department of Agriculture called the State Food Purchase Program (SFPP). The SFPP is a supplement to the federal Emergency Food Assistance Program (TEFAP), which last year supplied about 12 million pounds of food to nearly 400,000 households in New Jersey.

Begun in FY2007 with a budget of $3.9 million, the SFPP provides state tax dollars to the Community FoodBank in order to buy food in bulk quantities to be distributed at local food pantries. In January, as he was leaving office, former Governor Corzine added $3 million more to the fund for FY2010. Governor Christie shaved off a token $100,000 from that total in his first budget, but continued the program at the more substantial level of $6.8 million for FY2011. The SFPP allows for the purchase of 9.7million pounds of food for distribution at local pantries.

Thirty-eight states invest in emergency food and nutrition programs. A study by the California Association of Food Banks earlier this year showed New Jersey was fourth among states in its funding of emergency food programs, with an annual expenditure of $22 per household. Massachusetts was first at $62, followed by New York at $36 and Pennsylvania at $32 per household.

Even so, New Jersey could improve. In 2007, only 59 percent of New Jerseyans eligible for food stamps received them, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture, and there are 324,000 New Jersey households that are "food insecure," meaning that all household members do not have access to enough food for an active, healthy life at all times.

That first Thanksgiving in the autumn of 1621 was a three day harvest festival, not unlike others in ancient times or other cultures. We should all keep foremost in our minds that the gathering of Pilgrims and Native Americans offered a chance for the entire community to join in the feasting and partake of the bounty that the harvest offered.

Local Food Pantries In Need Of Donations

With Thanksgiving just 2 days away and Christmas right around the corner, local food pantries that serve the Bayshore region are in need and are seeking donations for the holiday season.

Nonperishable items, such as pasta, canned vegetables, rice, cereal and canned soups are in great demand. The economic recession has created a greater need for the services of local resources like the Keyport Ministerium.

Many food pantries are associated with the FoodBank of Monmouth and Ocean Counties, the largest pantry along the northern Jersey Shore. Visit the FoodBank website at www.foodbankmoc.org for information on local pantries and how to contact them.

"We Can't Let This Bank Fail"

More than 35 million Americans, including 12 million children, either live with or are on the verge of hunger. In New Jersey alone, an estimated 250,000 new clients will be seeking sustenance this year from the state's food banks. But recently, as requests for food assistance have risen, food donations are on the decline, leaving food bank shelves almost empty and hungry families waiting for something to eat.

The situation is dire, no more so than at the Community FoodBank of New Jersey (CFBNJ), the largest food bank in the state, where requests for food have gone up 30 percent, but donations are down by 25 percent. Warehouse shelves that are typically stocked with food are bare and supplies have gotten so low that, for the first time in its 25 year history, the food bank is developing a rationing mechanism.

As the state's key distributor of food to local banks – serving more than 500,000 people a year and providing assistance to nearly 1,700 non-profits in the state – the stability of replenishment of the CFBNJ is essential to ensuring that individuals in need have access to food.

If everyone could just do a little, it would help those in need a lot. To help, people can:

Make a monetary contribution: Visit www.njfoodbank.org.
Donate food: Drop off a bag of food at your local food pantry.
Organize a food drive: We can help explain the logistics of starting a food drive. Just call 908-355-FOOD.

Help "Check Out Hunger:" Look for the "Check Out Hunger" coupons at your local supermarket and donate. No donation is too small!

One thing that people commonly confuse is the role of the food bank. The CFBNJ is similar to a wholesale distributor, as they provide food to more than 1,600 charities throughout the state, which then give food directly to the hungry (the food bank does not give food directly to individuals). The food bank also does not accept small amounts of food, such as a cart of groceries. They encourage those donations go directly to a local food pantry or soup kitchen. Rather, the food bank accepts large quantity food donations, such as a truck full of groceries, as well as monetary donations which they stretch to purchase food at wholesale prices, such as 300 lb. bags of rice, for example.

Food Bank of NJ Needs Your Help!




Thanks to all of the participating bloggers for “We Can’t Let This Bank Fail” campaign

1) JerseyBites.com

2) RedBankGreen.com

3) Jersey Girl Cooks

4) Simply Sable

5) John and Lisa are eating in South Jersey

6) Padma's Kitchen

7) Chefdruck

8) Life Lightly Salted

9) My Italian Grandmother

10) Cook Appeal

11) Crotchety Old Man Yells at Cars

12) Mommy Vents

13) This Full House

14) Paper Bridges

15) Motherhood Avenue

16) The Kamienski Chronicles

17) Down the Shore with Jen

18) Fits and Giggles

19) House Hubbies Home Cooking

20) Nourish Ourselves

21) Partybluprints.com

22) Tommyeats.com

23) Off the broiler

24) Mrs. Mo’s New Jersey Baby

25) IamNotaChef.com

26) SimplyBeer.com

27) HistoryGeek.com

28) Savy Source Newark

29) Momlogic New Jersey

30) SurvivingNJ.com/blog

31) SurvivingNJ.blogspot.com

32) JerseyGirlGuide.com

33) Best of Roxy

34) Citizen Mom.net

35) Lynetteradio.com

36) Jersey Beat

37) Pop Vulture Phil

38) JerseySmarts.com

39) LongBeachIslandSummers.com

40) WildwoodSummers.com

41) Mike Halfacres Blog

42) Somerset08873

43) Family, Friends and Food

44) KateSpot.com

45) NewJerseyMomsBlog.com

46) JCRegister.com

47) New Jersey Real Estate Report

48) Riverviewobserver.com

49) More Monmouth Musings

50) Man of Infirmity

51) Another Delco Guy in South Jersey

52) SweetNicks.com

53) Average Noone

54) Cleary’s Notebook

55) Welcome to my Planet

56) The Center of New Jersey Life

57) Sharon’s Food Blog

58) Morristown, Chatham, Summit, and Madison NJ Real Estate

59) Midtown Direct Real Estate News

60) New Jersey Real Estate

61) BlowUpRadio.com

62) LazlosDen.com

63) The Ridgewood Blog

64) Book a Week with Jen

65) Banannie

66) Cartoongoddess.com

67) Matawan Advocate

68) Take Back the Kitchen

69) The Joy of Toast

70) Route 55

71) Montclair Kids.com

72) SaveJersey

73) Stompbox

74) Joe the Blogger

75) Environmental Republican

76) Stacey Snacks

77) Subversive Garden

78) New Jersey Pathfinder

79) Cooking With Friends Blog

80) Triple Venti

81) Read All About It

82) Rich Lee on Media

83) Likelihood of Success

84) Cape Cuisine

85) The Business At Hand

86) NewJerseyTaxRevolution

87) Figmentations

88) MiddletownMike

89) Caviar and Codfish

90) A Day in the Life

91) Mack’s Journey Through Life

92) Alice’s Restaurant

93) Tiger Hawk

94)Politics Patrol, The Bob Ingle Blog

95) The Food Chain

96) Henson’s Hell

97) Cranbury Conservative

98) Baristanet

99) New Jersey: Politics Unusual

100) Jersey Shore Blog

101) Plainfield Today

102) Beacon Bulletin

103) Journal Square Jersey City 07306

"Blogging Out Hunger" Event DEC. 15th

On Monday December 15th, The MiddletownMike blog will be joining Debbie Smith of Jersey Bites.com and 100 other blogs in the "Blogging out Hunger" event in support of the Community Food Bank of NJ.

"More than 35 million Americans, including 12 million children, either live with or are on the verge of hunger. In New Jersey alone, an estimated 250,000 new clients will be seeking sustenance this year from the state's food banks. But recently, as requests for food assistance have risen, food donations are on the decline, leaving food bank shelves almost empty and hungry families waiting for something to eat."

This is truly a worthy cause, one that I hope readers of this blog and others will support in the form of donations to the Community Food Bank of NJ or one of their own favorite local food pantries.

Check out this blog on Monday December 15th for more information how to donate to the Community Food Bank and for a list of links to all participating bloggers.

Lets all do our part "We Can't Let This Bank Fail" !

 

Governor Corzine asks citizens to volunteer their time this holiday season

To find out how you can get involved locally go to www.endhungernj.org and click on donations. There you will find a list of food pantries and soup kitchens in your area

Monmouth Freeholder Barbara McMorrow: Ask Thanksgiving Day Guests to Bring Donations for Food Pantries

With Thanksgiving just around the corner, many of us are planning what we are going to eat for Thanksgiving Day dinner. However, there are also many Monmouth County residents who are not planning a big dinner on Thanksgiving Day. They are worrying about putting food on the table for their families each and every day.

As liaison to the Department of Human Services for Monmouth County, I know that this year, donations to the food pantries throughout Monmouth County are way down and requests for food are way up. There are many working families who can't put gas in their cars and food on their tables.

I have a suggestion to make. If you are hosting dinner this Thanksgiving Day, when friends and families ask what they can bring, please ask them to bring a bag of nonperishable food items. The next day, please take the food that you have collected to your local food pantry or the Monmouth Ocean FoodBank.

There is so much for which I am thankful. However, I am most thankful to know that the great generosity that defines us as Americans will inspire each one of us to do whatever we can to help those around us who are in need.

Barbara J. McMorrow
Monmouth County Freeholder

"We Can't Let This Bank Fail!"

Bruce Springsteen wants to make sure one bank remains solvent: the Community Food Bank of New Jersey.

The singer will appear in a newspaper ad for the state's largest food bank that says: "We Can't Let This Bank Fail!"

Springsteen has been a supporter of the food bank for 23 years, often donating proceeds from concerts or encouraging fans to bring food donations to his shows. This is the first time he's lent his image to the anti-hunger campaign.

The Community Food Bank says the economy has resulted in a 30 percent increase in those needing food and could lead it to ration supplies for the first time in its 26-year history.

The food bank assists charities serving a half-million people each year.