Food Waste & Recovery looks at how food is

wasted in San Diego County. In this section, we

explore how much food is wasted and where it is
wasted. We also explore what organizations,
institutions, farmers, and food businesses need to
reduce food waste and expand zero waste
initiatives.

Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, and Threats

Food Waste & Recovery
 SWOT ANALYSIS

Food Waste & Recovery

Strengths

Many organizations actively working on prevention, recovery, and recycling of wasted

food
Two well-resourced food banks support most food recovery via partner networks
County of San Diego has devoted resources to issue (e.g., Food Donation Action Plan)
Demonstrated success of innovative programming
SB 1383 and AB 1826 have generated visibility for existing work and created
opportunities for growth
Previous funding through CalRecycle grants (San Diego County was awarded 19% of
total grant funds in 2019)
Policy amendment in City of San Diego municipal code allowed community composting
Strong desire for collaboration within and between agencies and municipalities in San
Diego
National and international thought-leaders and agencies have identified many high
leverage goals and strategies for reducing wasted food.
Food Donation Action Plan and other Zero Waste/ Climate Action Plans available and
accessible to implement solutions

San Diego County Food Vision 2030 | sdfoodvision2030.org Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities & Threats to Our Food System
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Food Waste & Recovery, continued

Weaknesses

No centralized platform for accurate, actual, and transparent data about wasted food in
our region
Need for a formal, regional authority on County-wide zero waste planning and more
capacity for each jurisdiction to implement food recovery hierarchy solutions
Lack of large-scale composting infrastructure, particularly for food waste
Current transportation, storage, processing, and distribution infrastructure is not
optimized to meet the increasing demand for food recovery (e.g. SB 1383, COVID)
Influencing household behavior change to reduce wasted food is time and resource
intensive
Community composting efforts are still undervalued as part of the zero waste solution
Lack of a robust social enterprise investor community in San Diego makes it difficult to
scale value-added processing social enterprises. Economic hardships brought on by
COVID may limit available funding streams.
Complexity of the issue makes it challenging to communicate clear and succinct
messaging to target audiences and general community

San Diego County Food Vision 2030 | sdfoodvision2030.org Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities & Threats to Our Food System
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Food Waste & Recovery, continued

Opportunities

Establish a regional, coordinated data collection methodology for food waste and food
recovery; make annual food waste and recovery data publicly available for San Diego
County (including SB 1383 food recovery annual reporting). (“Food waste and recovery
data” should include: tons of food waste landfilled, composted, fed to animals, sent to
anaerobic digestion facilities, donated, recovered through value-added processors, etc.)
Support for new and existing value-added processors that can upcycle/ preserve
otherwise wasted food, with capacity to quickly process product during food system
emergencies.
Technical assistance, logistics optimization, and capacity-sharing systems for food
recovery organizations to bridge gaps in service across the county.
Decentralized, nimble models for capturing and distributing excess food.
Educate residents about food waste impacts and solutions (e.g. household source
reduction, backyard composting, etc.)
Implement food waste education in K-12 school settings.
Educational/marketing campaign for businesses around food waste solutions (source
reduction, donation & composting); incorporate campaign materials within existing food
business processes (safety inspections, business license applications, etc.).
Accompanying pledge and recognition program to elevate businesses successfully
implementing solutions.
Increase support for innovative programs like incubators, value-added processors,
consumer education, pilot technologies, and programs prioritizing source reduction.
Increase collaboration between prevention, recovery, and recycling actors through
region
Increase community knowledge and access to community-based food scrap recycling
initiatives, including animal feed, and community composting.
Facilitate the expansion of new and existing community-based food scrap recycling
ventures (e.g. remove regulatory barriers making it difficult for community-based
recycling solutions to operate).
Develop and scale on-farm composting & large-scale composting solutions.

San Diego County Food Vision 2030 | sdfoodvision2030.org Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities & Threats to Our Food System
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Food Waste & Recovery, continued

Threats

Society and food industry (retail and manufacturing) are not incentivized to reduce food
waste
Throwaway culture and industrialized food system challenges consumer waste
prevention behavior
Wasted food prevention, recovery, and recycling is seen as volunteer or charity work
California’s current recycling rates are below CalRecycle targets; landfill is still the
cheapest option
Reliance on grant-based funding for food waste programming
Impact and results take time to manifest
SB 1383 goals are challenging for jurisdictions to enforce and will require extensive
resources. COVID financial impacts (jurisdiction staff cuts and decreased city revenue)
may cause delays and add challenges to meeting SB 1383 goals.
Uncertainty about the future of CalRecycle Food Waste Prevention & Rescue grant
program, particularly in light of COVID-related state budget cuts.
Food system emergencies cause unpredictable supply chain disruptions, leading to
wasted food.
Coronavirus pandemic and emerging risks

San Diego County Food Vision 2030 | sdfoodvision2030.org Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities & Threats to Our Food System
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