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SPU and Safeway learned together how to cut food waste and improve donations of unsold, edible food to local food banks. These practices can apply to many grocery stores.

• Food Rescue Bin Pilot: Standardization, Reuse, and Communication
  In 2022, SPU piloted recommendations from the 2021 Grocery Rescue Assessment with three Safeway stores and three Seattle food banks. Findings showed that by using a standardized donation bin, guiding employees on donation protocols, and strengthening communications with their food bank partners, the quality and quantity of donated food goes up while food waste goes down. The pilot also prototyped a bin reuse system to pick up, clean, and return the bins to the stores. More testing is needed to understand the costs and benefits of embedding this kind of reuse into the food rescue system. Download the report.

Partners researched, distilled, and clarified food rescue system opportunities.

• Transportation (University of Washington)
  SPU hired the University of Washington Supply Chain Transportation and Logistics Center (SCTL) to identify how food rescue transportation logistics might be improved. The findings challenge a common assumption about food rescue in Seattle: that if only nonprofit hunger relief organizations had more trucks and drivers, the food rescue network could be more efficient. The UW found key supply chain gaps to address before efficiencies could be gained. Key findings suggested that food donors and hunger relief organizations should 1. consider collecting shared data (food, transportation, labor, and storage needs); 2. communicate based on this shared information; 3. conduct operations using standardized protocols; and 4. collaborate based on shared challenges and opportunities. Read the report, also listed in our Research Papers section.
  
• Technology (Mayor Durkan's Innovation Advisory Council) 
  Given the lack of real-time, shared information across stakeholders, SPU explored how pre-existing software applications could provide open access information and potential efficiencies. Based on past feedback from Seattle nonprofits, SPU reviewed 37 food rescue apps to see if any would work for our local conditions. A local nonprofit used this initial information to begin developing a Seattle-based app. Learn more about the Mayor's IAC Project.
• Grocery Donation Practices 
  SPU engaged with Northwest Food Alliance (NWFA) to assess grocery rescue operations at eight Seattle grocery store locations. Grocers are among the largest donors of surplus food. This project focused on how grocers could improve quality and quantity of donated food while reducing food and packaging waste. NWFA conducted extensive interviews, measured donated food and packaging across a ten-day period, observed donation protocols, and led discussions on how to improve outcomes for stores and the organizations who collect their donations. Download the summary or the full report.
  

Experts across diverse sectors busted myths, shared challenges, and started building relationships.

SPU has engaged over 80 stakeholders from over 50 organizations in a variety of ways, including Food Rescue Innovation Labs, Transportation Roundtables, one-on-one interviews, and small group discussions. Organizations such as Mary's Place helped put human dignity at the center of this work, while the Odessa Brown Clinic pointed to health disparities, and the University of Washington deepened discussions around transportation challenges embedded in collecting food. Throughout these convenings, participants across many sectors challenged assumptions, identified systemic barriers, and suggested opportunities for improving food rescue operations.