In America, an estimated 72 million pounds of food end up in a landfill every year, while one in eight people go hungry. In order to stop this cycle of hunger and waste, giant supermarket Kroger Co. launches new initiative Zero Hunger | Zero Waste.
The national effort includes establishing a $10 million fund through the Kroger Co. Foundation to address food waste and hunger, improving the quality of donated meals, advocating for public policy solutions to address hunger and accelerating food donations to provide three billion meals by 2025. Kroger is also joining forces with both new and longstanding partners to identify opportunities, leverage data, and determine where by working together Kroger can help the most.
According to a Kroger press release, Rodney McMullen, Kroger’s chairman and CEO, said, “No family in a community we serve should ever go hungry, and no food in a store we operate should ever go to waste.”
McMullen goes on to say that this plan is their “moonshot” and a vision for America they want to help create with associates, customers and stakeholders.
Jessica Adelman, Kroger’s group vice president of corporate affairs, said that they do not have all the answers, but that their vision is clear and they are working closely with Feeding America, as well as World Wildlife Fund (WWF).
Kroger Co. is inviting anyone who cares about feeding people and protecting the planet
“And we are inviting everyone who is passionate about feeding people and protecting the planet to join us in our mission to end hunger in our communities and eliminate waste across our company by 2025,” Ms. Adelman added.
McMullen mentioned that he knew they still had a lot of work to do, but that “when Kroger’s more than 443,000 associates put their passion to work to make something happen, we can uplift our communities, the planet and each other.”
To follow the journey and join the conversation, go to thekrogerco.com and #ZeroHungerZeroWaste.
Feeding America is the nationwide network of 200 food banks that leads the fight against hunger in the United States. Feeding America also supports programs that educate the public about the problem of hunger and advocates for legislation that protects people from going hungry. For more information, visit www.feedingamerica.org
WWF is one of the world’s leading conservation organizations, working in 100 countries for over half a century. With the support of almost 5 million members worldwide, WWF is dedicated to delivering science-based solutions to preserve the diversity and abundance of life on Earth, halt the degradation of the environment, and combat climate change. For more information, visit www.worldwildlife.org
With information from PR Newswire