The City of Hilliard and SWACO announced this morning a new partnership to reduce the amount of food wasted each month in the Hilliard community. The effort is part of an ongoing series of partnerships centered around SWACO’s Save More Than Food initiative. Save More than Food works with communities around Franklin County, providing information to residents with an end goal of reducing the amount of food unnecessarily thrown away each day. Beginning this week, Hilliard residents will receive informational postcards in the mail directing them to online resources to make the most of their grocery budget by avoiding food waste.
“The Save More Than Food campaign is about bringing our community together to macke a real difference,” Hilliard Operations Administrator Dave Judson said. “In Hilliard and throughout Franklin County, we’re encouraging residents, schools, and local businesses to take simple steps that add up to a big impact — reducing food waste while strengthening our connection between neighbors.”
A typical family of four in central Ohio could spend as much as $2,000 per year on food they never eat, even while one-in-seven of our neighbors isn’t sure where their next meal may be coming from. SWACO’s Save More Than Food campaigns work with residents, restaurants, and communities to cut that waste as much as possible by providing information for residents on how to keep food fresh for as long as possible, donating unneeded food, and composting what can’t be eaten.
“A million pounds of food waste is sent to the Franklin County Landfill every single day,” said SWACO Executive Director, Joe Lombardi. “It’s our largest single category of waste, and that wasted food also wastes the resources that went into producing, transporting, refrigerating, and preparing it, so we’re thrilled to be working with Hilliard on this campaign.”
Included on the postcards going out to Hilliard residents this week is information about how to prevent food waste at home and how to compost household food scraps using the City’s free compost drop-off location. Anyone can visit the drop-off site, located at 3790 Municipal Way, to compost scraps including fruits and vegetables, coffee grounds, eggs, and more. SWACO helped to fund the creation of Hilliard’s drop-off site with a Community Waste Reduction Grant in 2020, and will be providing updated signage for the site as part of the new partnership.
The Save More Than Food campaign will be supplemented by weekly social media posts highlighting easy ways for households to reduce food waste.
To learn more about composting in Hilliard visit Food Waste Composting Program – City of Hilliard. To learn more about the Save More Than Food campaign, visit Home – Save More Than Food – Central Ohio Food Waste Initiative.
