Governor Stein Proclaims Food Waste Prevention Week

Food Waste Prevention Week

2026

By The Governor Of The State Of North Carolina

A Proclamation

Whereas, approximately one-third of all food produced in the United States goes uneaten, and North Carolina generates more than 2 million tons of surplus food annually; and

Whereas, safe, nutritious surplus food should be put to its highest and best use by feeding the more than 1.6 million North Carolinians experiencing food insecurity, including nearly half a million children; and

Whereas, preventing food waste conserves critical resources – including land, water, labor, and energy used in the production, transportation, and handling of food; and by discarding uneaten food, families across the state waste nearly $3,000 each year in grocery expenses; and

Whereas, North Carolina K-12 schools and universities play a vital role in educating the next generation about ways to reduce, recover, and recycle surplus food and food scraps by implementing food redistribution (e.g., share tables, campus pantries) and composting programs; and

Whereas, North Carolina provides opportunities for farmers and food service establishments to sell and use traditionally unmarketable, “ugly” food, and for commercial organics recycling businesses to use inedible food scraps to create valuable soil amendments; and

Whereas, food waste comprises approximately 22 percent of the waste disposed in North Carolina and accounts for 58 percent of fugitive methane emissions from municipal solid waste landfills; and

Whereas, preventing food waste is vital to extending the life of the state’s landfill capacity and reducing greenhouse gas emissions associated with food production and landfill disposal; the state’s landfill capacity is finite; and two of the state’s largest regional landfills may reach capacity within the next decade; and

Whereas, the State of North Carolina encourages everyone to prevent food waste and recover edible food by using resources available through NC Department of Environmental Quality’s Use the Food NC campaign at usethefood.nc.gov;

Now, Therefore, I, Josh Stein, Governor of the State of North Carolina, do hereby proclaim September 28 – October 4, 2026, as “Food Waste Prevention Week” in North Carolina and commend its observance.

In Witness Whereof, I have hereunto set my hand and affixed the Great Seal of the State of North Carolina at the Capitol in Raleigh this eighth day of September in the year of our Lord two thousand and twenty-sixth and of the Independence of the United States of America the two hundred and fifty-first.