“Viewpoints” is a place on Chapelboro where local people are encouraged to share their unique perspectives on issues affecting our community. All thoughts, ideas, opinions and expressions in this series are those of the author, and do not reflect the work, reporting or approval of 97.9 The Hill and Chapelboro.com. If you’d like to contribute a column on an issue you’re concerned about, interesting happenings around town, reflections on local life — or anything else — send a submission to viewpoints@wchl.com.
Stop Wasting Food, Start Feeding Chapel Hill
A perspective from Amelia Perkis
Last week, I watched perfectly good bakery items land in the trash as the day ended. Meanwhile, just a few miles away, families in our community were left wondering where their next meal would come from. That stark contrast is impossible to ignore and even harder to accept.
Food waste is more than an inconvenience. It is one of the clearest signs that our system is broken.
In the United States, over 119 billion pounds of food are wasted every year, while millions of people face food insecurity. Here in central and eastern North Carolina, more than 600,000 people don’t have reliable access to food, including nearly one in five children. At the same time, restaurants, grocery stores, and farms across the Research Triangle throw away massive amounts of edible food every single day.
This isn’t about scarcity. It’s about missed connections.
Through my green citizen project, I focused on solutions that are already out there but need to grow, like food donation protections and programs such as Too Good To Go. These efforts show that cutting food waste is not just possible, but practical. Now is the time to amplify them.
Policies like the Bill Emerson Good Samaritan Food Donation Act make it easier for businesses to donate excess food by protecting them from liability. This removes one of the biggest barriers that previously prevented grocery stores and restaurants from donating unsold items. But many businesses either don’t know about these protections or don’t take full advantage of them.
That must change.
Meanwhile, technology is opening new doors to fight waste. Apps like Too Good To Go let businesses offer surplus food at a discount instead of tossing it. Customers enjoy affordable meals, businesses recover some profit, and less food fills our landfills. Everyone benefits.
I witnessed this firsthand while talking with local businesses in Chapel Hill. Some are already using data to better predict how much food to prepare each day. Others are crafting discounted surprise bags of leftovers for customers to grab through apps. These small shifts are having a real impact, but they have yet to become the norm.
And they deserve to be.
Of course, no solution is perfect. Donation programs can sometimes allow businesses to overproduce without fixing the root issue. Food banks may lack the storage or transportation capacity to handle large donations. And app-based solutions frequently rely on smartphones and flexible schedules, which can exclude the very people who need help the most.
But these problems are not excuses to give up. There are reasons to do better.
Local governments should increase funding for food recovery programs and invest in essentials such as refrigeration and transportation. Businesses should be encouraged, through incentives or public support, to donate surplus food and join redistribution efforts. As consumers, we can back businesses that fight waste and make more thoughtful choices about what we buy.
The Research Triangle is uniquely poised to lead this movement. With a vibrant restaurant scene, a technologically skilled community, and dedicated organizations already tackling food insecurity, we have the tools we need. If we cannot solve this here, where can it be done?
Reducing food waste is not just about protecting the environment, though the impact is enormous. When food rots in landfills, it releases methane, a greenhouse gas that fuels climate change. But at its core, food waste is about our values. It is about whether we allow good food to be discarded while our neighbors go hungry.
We do not need to reinvent the system. We simply need to use the tools we already have more wisely.
The next time food is wasted in Chapel Hill, it won’t be from lack of solutions, it will be from lack of action.
And that’s something we can change.
“Viewpoints” on Chapelboro is a recurring series of community-submitted opinion columns. All thoughts, ideas, opinions and expressions in this series are those of the author, and do not reflect the work or reporting of 97.9 The Hill and Chapelboro.com.
