Donation Dumping: The Hidden Harm to Nonprofits and the Environment

Donation dumping is an often-overlooked issue in the world of food recovery. At first glance, it seems generous when businesses offer large quantities of food to local nonprofits. However, when these donations consist of moldy produce, wilted greens, or food otherwise unfit for human consumption, they create more problems than solutions for the nonprofits trying to help. While California Senate Bill 1383 mandates that businesses donate excess edible food instead of discarding it, not all donations are created equal, and when inedible food reaches nonprofits, it leads to what those in the industry call “donation dumping.” Donation dumping is not always intentional, but donors should inspect their donations before posting on Careit, and at the very least, give a fair and truthful warning that part of their donation might need to be sorted out.

The Burden on Nonprofits

Understaffed and underfunded nonprofits and their volunteers already work hard to quickly sort, store, and distribute food to the communities they serve. When they receive donations that include spoiled or unusable food, it creates additional challenges. Staff members must spend precious time determining what can be salvaged, slowing down their entire operation. If the food is beyond saving, nonprofits face the additional burden of paying waste haulers to dispose of the discarded items, which can be a costly and time-consuming process. In extreme cases of a donation that has too much inedible food, they may even be forced to discard the entire donation.

Anaheim Pantry, a nonprofit partner on Careit, experienced a severe case of donation dumping. The pantry was receiving regular donations of spoiled food, completely unfit to serve to its clients. Despite previously requesting a compost bin from the city for proper disposal in compliance with SB 1383, they had not yet received one. Consequently, the pantry had to discard the spoiled food in the trash, and due to the volume, they incurred multiple fines from their waste hauler. These fines ultimately added up to over $300, all due to the terrible burden of donation dumping.

Careit’s Solution to Prevent Donation Dumping

At Careit, we try to prevent this very issue by giving nonprofits the ability to select donations that match their needs and capacity. Through the app, nonprofits can review available donations, view clear photos, and only claim what they know they can use to serve their community. This ensures that the food being donated is wanted. By empowering nonprofits to take control of what they receive, we minimize the likelihood of wasted food and help streamline their operations. Additionally, when nonprofits inevitably do receive donations that contain unusable food they can precisely record the weights of received food that had to be composted, landfilled, or used as animal feed. We also allow nonprofits to leave notes on completed donations to alert the donor of any important information, such as a request for better sorting in the future. This data, available on the donor dashboard, provides the management team with clarity and transparency surrounding their donation sorting efficacy. 

Introducing Careit’s Animal Food Rescue Program

Even though SB 1383 requires businesses to donate excess food, not all of it is suitable for human consumption. That’s where Careit’s new Animal Food Rescue program comes in. This program works with small, local urban farmers to collect food scraps, such as veggie trimmings, fruits, starches, and proteins, to be used as animal feed. Careit matches both businesses and nonprofits with farmers who are looking for specific types of scraps, ensuring that nothing goes to waste.

For more details on how the Animal Feed program works, keep your eye out for a fantastic blog post written by my colleague Emily, which will be coming out shortly! In her post she interviews our animal scrap consultant, Pat Browne, about all the best practices surrounding this new feature on Careit. 

Innovative Solutions to Support Nonprofits

In some cases, waste hauling companies and municipalities are offering solutions to help nonprofits with the added costs of handling unclaimed or unusable donations. In Los Angeles, the recycLA Commercial Waste Franchise program requires waste haulers to allocate an annual budget to support food recovery efforts. Some of this money can be provided in the form of in-kind organics waste collection services to food recovery organizations and food rescue services. Athens Services, a key player in this initiative, provides free organics waste containers and hauling services for a number of food rescue organizations operating in their recycLA service zones. Programs like these offer much-needed support to nonprofits, helping them offset the costs associated with donation dumping and focusing their resources on feeding their communities.

Through innovative solutions such as Careit allowing nonprofits to decide which donations they want to claim, the rollout of the Animal Feed Program, and adaptive waste hauling solutions, donation dumping can become a problem of the past.