Green Initiatives

Green Initiatives

Food banks help lead the way on reducing food waste by recovering healthy food that may have otherwise been discarded. In addition to redistributing hundreds of millions of pounds of rescued food, we are proud of our other green initiatives.

HIGHLIGHTS:

  • Diverting millions of pounds of healthy food from agriculture and industry that would otherwise be discarded.
  • Composting food waste at our Concord warehouse.
  • Recycling paper, plastic, aluminum and cardboard.
  • Recycling plastic bags from food drives.
  • Reusing paper bags from food drives – if the bag is not ripped we reuse the bags at some food distributions. If the bag is ripped, it gets recycled.
  • Solar panels on the roof of our Concord Warehouse reduce the electric bill to a very small amount.

Powering our Warehouse with Solar Energy

The Food Bank owns a warehouse in Concord (31,000 sq.ft.) with a large area for refrigeration and freezer storage (2,800 sq. ft). Running the warehouse and refrigeration areas consumes a lot of electricity. Using solar energy to power our warehouse operations helps us be more sustainable, save thousands of dollars, and allows to use the savings to better serve Contra Costa and Solano counties.

Grocery Recovery Program

Since 1975 the Food Bank has rescued quality food from growers and grocery stores that would otherwise end up in landfill. Grocery Recovery program rescues an average of 6.5 million pounds of food each year.

We are grateful to CalRecycle and California Climate Investments for making it possible for us to expand our food rescue pickups from grocery donors on the weekend. Our grant project included the purchase of a new hybrid refrigerated truck to complete these pickups, funded by a grant from the Department of Resources Recycling and Recovery (CalRecycle) through California Climate Investments. The new hybrid emits 22% less greenhouse gas (MTCO22e) and makes our fleet more environmentally friendly as we work to serve our community.