After relocating from Providence to Narragansett, I built a fenced-in vegetable garden and was eager to deepen my knowledge of gardening. I looked into the University of Rhode Island master gardener program, but the timing didn’t work. Instead, I enrolled in Food Recovery for Rhode Island, a URI Cooperative Extension program focused on rescuing and recycling food. The course combines online learning, field trips and a volunteer component that enables participants to contribute directly to improving the state’s food systems.
The experience exceeded my expectations. At orientation, I joined a packed auditorium of over 60 participants from across Rhode Island – diverse in age, background and profession. As a longtime composter, I was surprised by how much my understanding expanded. We toured sites, including the Central Landfill and Earth Care Farm LLC, and even learned canning and pickling techniques.
For most participants, Food Recovery for Rhode Island provides practical knowledge and real-world engagement. Volunteers are matched with programs such as Harvest Cycle and Rhode Island Schools Recycling Project, where I now volunteer. This initiative introduces composting to public schools. It’s been joyful watching young students work with janitors, kitchen staff and teachers to embrace new processes and celebrate shared success. This year alone, more than 35 schools joined the program, diverting more than 300 tons of waste from the landfill and redirecting more than 30 tons of edible food to students and food pantries.
As a systems change consultant for 25 years, I’ve helped organizations align strategy with agile operations. Food Recovery for Rhode Island stands out because it tackles three urgent issues – hunger, climate change and economic waste – all through the lens of food recovery.
Hunger. Rhode Island discards staggering amounts of edible food. The FRRI program alone redirected 230,000 pounds of surplus food to hunger relief partners. Yet 38% of households in the state – 1 in 3 families with children – struggle to afford enough food. While people go hungry, we throw away over 100,000 tons of food annually. The disconnect is unacceptable.
Climate change. Organic waste in landfills produces methane, a greenhouse gas more than 80 times as potent as carbon dioxide over a 20-year period. With food waste making up 33% of our landfill content, the environmental cost is severe. Rhode Island’s Central Landfill is expected to reach capacity within 20 years, and replacement solutions will be expensive for businesses and taxpayers.
Economic waste. The cost of growing, transporting and preparing food – only to discard it – is staggering. It’s not just inefficient; it’s unconscionable. Every wasted meal represents lost resources, labor and environmental damage.
Despite the complexity of many social problems, food waste stands out as a solvable challenge. Composting at home is easy and increasingly accessible. Urban residents can access products and services such as compost drop-off sites. For institutions, the opportunity is even greater. Employers such as Brown University and CVS Health Corp. already partner with haulers such as ReMix Organics Co. and Bootstrap Compost Inc. to divert food waste to local processors such as Earth Care Farm.
What if every business in Rhode Island committed to preventing food waste and composting what can’t be redirected? What if each company empowered one employee to take the FRRI course and lead a food sustainability effort at work? These modest actions could dramatically reduce landfill use, feed our neighbors and help fight climate change.
In a world full of daunting, systemic issues, food waste is one we can actually fix starting now.
MJ Kaplan is founder and CEO of Kaplan Consulting LLC and a 2024 graduate of the University of Rhode Island Cooperative Extension’s Food Recovery for Rhode Island course.
