N.J. Wastes Billions of Pounds of Food as Families Go Hungry. That Can Change.

Editor’s note: Table to Table Executive Director Heather Thompson wrote this opinion piece. It originally appeared on NJ.com Sunday, March 29, 2026. Click here to read the article.

Nearly three billion pounds of surplus food is produced each year in New Jersey — the majority of which goes to waste, despite being perfectly edible.

At the same time, more than 1.1 million New Jerseyans are food insecure, with limited or uncertain access to sufficient, safe and nutritious food for themselves and their families. Of that number, a staggering 270,000 are children.

The amount of good food being discarded while so many people struggle to access food represents a significant disconnect. But there is good news in New Jersey.

A New Law Pushes Food Waste Reduction

A law passed in January mandates county-level solid waste management districts to reduce annual food waste by 50% by 2035. It is a significant step that will benefit the environment by reducing methane gas emissions and has strong potential to benefit neighbors facing food insecurity.

While national goals to reduce food waste have been in place since 2015, and state goals since 2017, this marks the first time New Jersey has implemented legislation specifically aimed at driving action at the local level.

With the passage of this bill, county officials, municipal leaders and local organizations are mobilizing to explore strategies that will be most effective for their own communities.

The legislation also highlights the donation of perishable food as a key strategy, reinforcing what organizations like Table to Table have known for many years: food rescue — where food businesses donate surplus fresh and prepared food that is quickly delivered to pantries, shelters and other community organizations — is a highly effective model that benefits everyone involved.

Donation Before Composting

When many people think about reducing food waste, composting is often the first solution that comes to mind. Composting is far preferable to sending food to landfills, but when food is still edible, donation should be the first step.

Take an oddly shaped apple, for example. A shopper may pass it over at the supermarket in favor of something that looks more perfect.

After a few days, a new shipment arrives, shelves are cleared and that apple is removed. It does not need to be thrown away. It is perfectly edible and likely quite delicious.

Through food rescue, that apple can be safely donated and end up in a child’s lunch box the next day. If it is badly bruised, it can instead go to a local farm for animal feed. Only when food is no longer safe for consumption of any kind should it be composted.

It Takes a Village to Rescue Food

Building a sustainable and scalable food rescue system requires collective effort. Several food recovery organizations across New Jersey play critical roles in linking surplus food to those in need. Hundreds of food businesses have committed to donating quality surplus food.

Thousands of volunteers conduct rescues, support outreach and assist local pantries and food distributions to ensure food reaches neighbors who need it.

With this new law in place, those local networks can grow and coordinate around shared goals — ensuring more good food ends up on tables instead of in landfills.

Food rescue is an efficient solution to reducing food waste while directly addressing food insecurity. It is a win-win model with room for everyone to participate.

As New Jersey counties embrace food rescue as a core strategy, our air will get cleaner, landfills will grow more slowly, and, most importantly, our neighbors and their children will be nourished.

Heather Thompson is the executive director of Table to Table, a New Jersey nonprofit that bridges the gap between food waste and food insecurity by mobilizing refrigerated trucks and volunteers to rescue fresh surplus food — the equivalent of more than 25 million meals annually — and deliver it directly to pantries, shelters, and community agencies.

Table to Table is New Jersey’s first and largest food rescue nonprofit, bridging the gap between food being wasted and people facing food insecurity. We bring rescued fresh, nutritious food to 276 community partners, including social service organizations, pantries, shelters, fresh produce markets and centralized distribution hubs. Food is provided free of charge. Through this, Table to Table touches a diversity of those in need, including families, children, veterans, and older adults, making good nutrition accessible while serving as a stimulus for other longer-term benefits. Since 1999 we have rescued more than 133,271 tons of nutritious food — enough for 266,542,863 meals — and delivered it to our neighbors in need, saving over 612 metric tons of methane.

Related:

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• Table to Table: What We Do
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