NonProfit Organizations Fighting Food Waste

PRODUCERS, CONSUMERS, FARMERS, AND CORPORATIONS: EVERYBODY IS WASTING VAST AMOUNTS OF FOOD THAT COULD BE USED TO FEED THE POOR. SOCIAL ENTERPRISES ARE CALLED TO MEET THE CHALLENGE, AND REDISTRIBUTE THE FOOD CURRENTLY BEING THROWN AWAY

by Francesca Calo' and Benedetta De Pieri
Translated by Alex Foti

In recent years, one third of global food production has gone to the trash, while hunger still affects more than one billion people around the world. Food waste occurs at each stage of the human food chain: production, processing, distribution, domestic consumption. At every step, there’s ample margin for a more efficient management of food surpluses. These can be recuperated to be redistributed to the disadvantaged. Non-profit organizations play a leading role in recycling and redistributing excess food that would otherwise go to waste.

The Foodsaving research project has studied the best practices in Lombardy and other European regions that are comparable for level of economic activity and affluence (Catalunya, Spain; Baden Württemberg, Germany; Rhone-Alpes, France). It looked at profit firms, non-for-profit initiatives, and policymakers’ interventions, by adopting a novel approach that places around the same table university professors from various disciplines, small and medium firms, and non-profit actors (CERGAS, Bocconi’s research center on health economics and social innovation, is project leader; the study includes Giorgio Fiorentini, Elisa Ricciuti, and Simone Baglioni among its researchers). The first part of the research focused on Lombardy, by interviewing and gathering data on 20 non-profit organizations, as well as 20 for-profit firms.

➜ Three types of food-giving organizations

In the field of food philanthropy, there are three main functional actors: logistical organizations, frontline organizations, and hybrids. The first act as middlemen between donors and territorial organizations, giving food to beneficiaries, e.g. families experiencing economic duress. They are highly formalized organizations which collect and distribute food to a wide network of partners. Frontline food-giving organizations tend to be more traditional charities, such as community kitchens and church canteens, or associations involved in the charitable distribution of food parcels. Frontline NGOs usually get their supplies from logistical organizations; they seldom have contacts with food companies, and sometimes buy on the market the food they give away for free. Hybrid organizations usually have direct relations with final recipients, and display innovative forms of food distribution, such as social markets and solidarity fairs, but at the same time have good logistics and networking skills.

The data gathered point to the fact that most of these organizations do not have any revenues deriving from their activities, as they secure their funding through private donations or government contributions. Also, data reveal that, unlike most other NGOs, frontline and hybrid food charities do not assess their social impact by using essentially qualitative criteria for self-evaluation. Logistical organizations are instead employing more sophisticated tools (such as time indicators), which are however insufficient to evaluate effective social impact. In fact, rigorous standards for self-evaluation are still lacking in this non-profit sector.

âžœ  The role of policymakers

In the interviews made for the research study, many respondents showed a lack of knowledge about government policies and incentives (especially for donor companies) concerning food surpluses. A major issue is that public actors will increasingly require social impact evaluations from food charities. Only by measuring their social impact can altruistic organizations evolve, which usually requires formal structures and processes, and the ability to network with similar non-profits, as well as mobilize local actors. All this is only possible through public measures adopted by policymakers, who will have to weigh with attention the effectiveness of food policies they are called to implement.