Work in Collegeville, Phoenixville Set to Stop Food Waste

CARLISLE PA – Four local groups won grants this month for projects they expect will help prevent, reduce, and recover food waste.

Awards of between $2,500 and $20,000 were presented during June (2023) to 23 different groups statewide by The Giant Company and Keep Pennsylvania Beautiful.

Locally, “2023 Healing the Planet” grants were given June 16 to:

Evergreen Elementary School, in Collegeville, for a “flex farm” project;
Phoenixville Area Community Services Inc., Phoenixville, for its “Food Recovery and Pop-up Food Distribution” program;
ACLAMO, in Norristown, for a food waste reduction program; and
Lower Merion High School, Ardmore, to reduce and compost food waste there, as part of the Washington DC-based “The Advocacy Project.”

Specific award amounts were not disclosed.

How grant money will be used

Giant this year allocated $300,000 from a fund-raising drive in which its shoppers agreed to “round up” their purchase prices to the nearest dollar. The excess amounts were donated for the grants. Additional money received in the March-through-May campaign benefited the Rodale Institute in Kutztown, and the Planet Bee Foundation in San Francisco CA.

The money will be put to creative use in attempts to keep food waste out of landfills. Among the 23 Pennsylvania winners, one will convert the waste to biogas that will fuel electricity-producing generators. Some will create nutrient-rich compost for neighborhood gardeners and farmers. Others will develop educational programs to teach the value of food conservation and recovery.

Giant operates stores under the trade names Giant, Martin’s and Giant Heirloom Market. Local stores are found in Audubon, Gilbertsville, Harleysville, King of Prussia, Norristown, Phoenixville, Pottstown, Royersford and Stowe. In addition to Pennsylvania, Giant also has a retail presence in parts of Maryland, Virginia, and West Virginia. Grants also were provided in those states.

As a grocer, Giant understands “the choices we make, and the steps we take, to divert food waste from landfills are crucial in helping to heal our planet,” company Community Impact Manager Jessica Groves said. “What we are doing to reduce food waste now … will create a more sustainable tomorrow for us all.”

Food waste in the tourism industry

“Tourism contributes significantly to the 40 percent of annual global food production that’s wasted (and is then transported, again, often to a landfill),” according to a Feb. 13 article in Travel Weekly magazine. “Travel companies worldwide, from small hotels to major corporations, are tackling the issue to both do the right thing and save money,” it reported.

Since 2021, the Healing the Planet grant program has awarded more than $1.3 million to 110 recipients. Their projects connected communities to green spaces, and improved or helped to protect local waterways and water resources.

Keep Pennsylvania Beautiful, a state affiliate of Keep America Beautiful Inc., has organized volunteer-driven community improvement events for more than 30 years. The Giant Company, founded in 1923, is headquartered in Carlisle and is part of the Ahold Delhaize group of companies.