2020 Award for Excellence Nominee
Eugene - "Love Food Not Waste" Program
The City of Eugene Love Food Not Waste® (LFNW) program supports the collection of food waste citywide and enables transforming food scraps into compost. The program includes commercial and residential components and is marketed through well-recognized LFNW logo and branding.
LFNW began in 2011 to reduce some of the food waste Eugene sends to the landfill. The commercial program provides businesses, schools, public facilities, and other organizations the option to have food waste collected at a rate lower than that of garbage service and to be hauled to processors to become compost. The bagged compost is then sold at local retailers under the LFNW name. More than 270 businesses and organizations currently participate, and participants over time have collectively helped divert nearly 18,000 tons of food waste.
After a successful three-year residential pilot program, the LFNW program expanded citywide in 2019, allowing residential customers to place food scraps in their curbside yard waste bins to be made into LFNW compost. The City and private and nonprofit partners have engaged in extensive public education campaigns to support the program, using print and digital media, and extensive community outreach.
The Love Food Not Waste program has received overwhelmingly positive reception from the public and has become an integral part of the solid waste system. The involvement and support of participating businesses, schools, and organizations, haulers, processors, and residents of Eugene have been key to this success, making the LFNW a collaborative, community-based endeavor.