By Kate Pickford – More than 80 faculty and students from diverse academic backgrounds, community food organizations, foundations, and businesses convened on January 23, 2026 to debate the challenges of solving household food waste as part of the Rethinking Food Waste event. This symposium is hosted by Duke University’s World Food Policy Center at the Sanford School of Public Policy. The series is funded by a gift from The Duke Endowment in support of the Duke Climate Commitment, which unites the university’s education, research, operations, and public service missions to address climate challenges. The Nicholas Institute for Energy, Environment & Sustainability manages the symposia series.
Consumer Food Waste: Barriers, Assumptions, and Possibilities
WATCH PANEL: In this discussion, panelists Ben Chapman (North Carolina State University), Brian Roe (Ohio State University), and Gavin Fitzsimons (Duke Fuqua School of Business) addressed the critical factors influencing consumer sentiment surrounding food waste.
Central to this discussion was the issue of engaging those who are not motivated to make deliberate choices to reduce food waste. This majority sector has the potential to make the biggest impact in reducing consumer-generated waste, but traditional approaches are unlikely to generate lasting effects. Previously, many educational campaigns have been targeted towards those already aware of their personal environmental impact, but different solutions are necessary to mobilize those with different underlying needs, such as those looking to increase cost efficiency in their daily purchases.
Panelists discussed utilizing existing channels of dissemination, such as social media platforms in order to reach a greater number of consumers. Social media is currently a source of conflicting and largely unfounded approaches to how food waste can affect daily life. Chapman and Roe mentioned two such instances. One trending post states that eating leftover rice can lead to bacterial infection that leads to amputation, while another states that leftover rice contains fewer carbohydrates. In both cases, the emotion generated by the content increased their online popularity. This relationship between emotional response and trending content could be harnessed to increase awareness of food waste reduction.
Another method of introducing knowledge about food waste to new sectors of the population is through early childhood education. The inclusion of food sourcing and waste reduction into the curriculum could encourage households to practice increased awareness.
Key to this panel was the determination that an impactful reduction can only be fully realized through reaching the large portion of the population that is not currently concerned with food waste. Non-traditional methods of information dissemination, such as social media or through implementation in school curriculum, are necessary to reach this group. Through further brainstorming, targeted messages can be crafted to encourage widespread food waste reduction.
The Business Connection: Financial, Social, and Environmentally Sustainable Solutions
WATCH PANEL: In this discussion, panelists Lauren Davis (North Carolina A & T State University), Muriel Williman (NC Composting Council and City of Durham Solid Waste Management), Leonard L. Williams (North Carolina A & T State University), and Rachel Surtshin (Duke University) addressed food waste in business practices and the supply chain.
Unlike many environmental issues under the current administration, reducing food waste is often framed as a bipartisan concern. Since wasted food represents inefficiency in capitalist systems through lost revenue and strained supply chains, it has the potential to appeal to policymakers across political lines. Panelists discussed this area of likely policy change, particularly when waste reduction is tied to lower economic costs instead of environmental protection.
At the same time, panelists acknowledged that progress in food policy is rarely linear. Each time a change in administration occurs, the focus of food policies shifts, causing stagnation. These interruptions can slow adoption and create uncertainty for business planning.
Much of the discussion centered on grocery retail, where excess waste is often generated before food ever reaches consumers. Key to this issue is the inevitable misalignment of projected supply and demand. Imperfect forecasting, risk aversion, and limited communication between suppliers and retailers often lead to excess perishable goods. In some cases, this extra food can be redirected to face community needs, but this is not always the case. Improving the technology used to predict demand, particularly the introduction of AI into creating these estimates, was discussed as one method by which waste may be reduced in the future.
The panel also addressed the incentives currently shaping business behavior. Rather than relying on voluntary commitments, many waste reduction efforts are driven by policy or business-induced measures to cut costs. Tax incentives to donate motivate retailers to redirect, rather than waste, extra food. However, there is the potential that this would lead to the passing of inedible food to food banks, which only creates more waste. Policy, business, and community leaders must come together to understand and implement incentives that lead to productive change for every party.
Harnessing Humanistic Insight to Solve Household Food Waste
WATCH PANEL: In this panel, Matthew Whelan (Duke Divinity School), Michael Binger (Society of St. Andrew), and Jarvis McInnis (Duke Department of English) approached food waste from a new perspective: one with roots in the humanities. Instead of focusing on food reduction in the context of business and politics, food was explored as a reflection of community. From this lens, food is understood in terms of its inherent relationship with the values, beliefs, and narratives that guide food from production to consumption.
Key to this discussion is the idea that food is not simply a commodity; it carries meaning tied to the labor involved with its growth, transportation, and preparation. As such, food waste is a moral issue as well as a practical one. Panelists discussed how proximity to food production influences these values. In rural settings, where individuals are closer to growing and harvesting food, waste is often perceived differently than in urban environments, where food is a more detached concept. Michael Binger highlighted the importance of understanding where food originates and the mindfulness regarding waste that comes from cultivating an appreciation for production practices. Since such a large portion of the population is disconnected from where their food is grown, attitudes towards food are not universal.
Viewing food waste reduction through religious frameworks serves to add another dimension to the conversation. Practices such as gleaning were discussed as expressions of obligation to care for neighbors. In many cases, farmers cited religion as a basis for their decision to donate leftover crops to their community. Food production is a form of stewardship of the environment and other people. This panel highlighted that this view of food as an ethical obligation allows us to recognize the potential to create connections across communities centered on food waste reduction.
The panel emphasized the importance of viewing food waste as a complex issue that extends beyond quantitative data. Storytelling, qualitative work, and community engagement are necessary tools to understand the role of food in communities. This attention to the underlying meaning and values of food gives the opportunity to reduce waste and cultivate connections throughout communities and food systems.
Navigating Trade-Offs in Food Waste Solutions: Costs, Capacity, and Consequences
WATCH PANEL: This discussion between Ned Spang (University of California Davis), Christine Wittmeier (North Carolina Department of Environmental Quality), Nina Sevilla (Natural Resources Defense Council), and Matthew Johnson (Duke Sanford School of Public Policy) focused on the tradeoffs that must be made in order to enact food waste reduction. Instead of assuming that food waste reduction implicitly reduces community need and environmental impact, the panel examined the instances in which issues arise through reduction techniques.
The panel centered on food diversion efforts, particularly the role of composting in keeping waste from landfills. While these programs are often framed as universally positive, there exist concerns surrounding the viability of divergence as a large-scale method of waste management. Key to this is the worry that redirection discourages the creation of reduction plans. In this way, food recovery can unintentionally normalize excess rather than address the root cause.
California’s Senate Bill 1383 was raised as an example of a policy keeping food out of landfills. Panelists emphasized that composting is not the same as waste reduction. As policy leads to an increased focus on compost, these programs scale up, introducing issues of capacity and a lack of supportive infrastructure. While landfill diversion is beneficial to the environment, composting infrastructure is expensive and incurs additional climate costs, such as increased transportation emissions. Because of this, composting was framed as a tool to reduce waste, not a universal solution.
Another tradeoff that was addressed during the panel was the risk of food rescue becoming a dumping ground for unusable food. When donation is incentivized without policy constraints on quality, nonprofits can be left to contend with the removal of food that they cannot serve. This shifts waste from businesses to organizations that are already operating with limited resources. Illinois attempts to address this issue through its “right to refuse” policy, which allows nonprofits to turn away donations that are not up to their standards. Policies such as these help prevent waste from being moved rather than being reduced. This panel addressed the underlying intersectionality of food waste reduction that makes redirection a complicated issue.