Use the Food NC
Use The Food Storage Guide
Learn how to store common fruits and vegetables properly so they last longer, which saves money and reduces waste.
Download Storage Guide
Use the Food Social Media Toolkits
Check out ready-to-use social media toolkits for common food waste reduction facts and tips.
Social Media Toolkits
Reduce Food Waste at Home
Download and share the residential handout to educate your community on the impacts of wasted food.
Residential Handout
Customizable Compost Materials
Request custom brochures, flyers and signage for your community.
Request Materials
Self-Assessment Guide
This Self-Assessment Guide is intended to provide resources and general strategies for NC businesses.
Download Self-Assessment Guide
The Impact of Food Waste
Across the country more than one-third of food goes uneaten each year. When individuals, businesses, non-profit organizations, and local governments reduce food waste, they lower their environmental impact, save money, and feed their community.
Tons of food waste.
NC generated about 2.66 million tons of food waste in 2023.
Dollars in surplus food.
Food waste cost North Carolina about 16.5 billion dollars in 2023.
North Carolinians hungry.
1,493,870 people faced hunger in North Carolina in 2024, including 448,460 children.
Wasted food has environmental, financial and social impacts.
As food breaks down in landfills, it gives off methane, a powerful greenhouse gas (GHG) that contributes to climate change. According to the EPA, each year wasted food in the United States produces the same GHG emissions as 42 coal-fired power plants and uses enough water and energy to supply 50 million homes!
Nationwide, surplus food costs $495 billion. Despite the amount of food available, only 1.8 percent of it was donated. At the same time, many North Carolinians are food insecure, meaning they do not have reliable, consistent access to food.
Who We Are
The Recycling and Materials Management Section (RMMS) is within the non-regulatory Division of Environmental Assistance and Customer Service (DEACS) and helps promote a circular economy by providing technical assistance to recycling businesses and local governments, grant opportunities that expand recycling infrastructure and offer a variety of outreach programs.