Our impact
Since 2010, Spoonfuls has kept over 35 million pounds of good food out of landfills and, this year, we’re on track to recover another 5.8+ million pounds of food. Find out what that means for people, planet, and our partners.
The food Spoonfuls recovers is an important source of nutrition for people across Massachusetts.
370K+
neighbors across Massachusetts
received the food we recovered last year
90K+
meals can be prepared with the food we distribute each week
90%+
of the food we recover is fresh. Think: nutrient-dense items like produce, meat, and dairy
1 in 6 households across Massachusetts faces food insecurity. By distributing the food we recover on the same day we pick it up, Spoonfuls offers an immediate resource for our neighbors who need food now.
We focus on fresh food because perishable items are the most frequently wasted and, owing to their usually high price tag, often overlooked by people struggling to afford food. But that’s not all. Due to nutrition insecurity caused by limited access to fresh, healthy foods, people facing food insecurity are also at a greater risk for obesity and diet-related diseases like Type 2 diabetes and high blood pressure. Those health issues could lead to increased medical bills that make it even more difficult for someone to afford food.
In 2024, Spoonfuls kept over 5.5 million lbs. of good food out of landfills, preventing 2,700+ metric tons of carbon dioxide equivalent from being emitted into the atmosphere. That’s like the greenhouse gas emissions from:
6.9M+
miles driven
300K+
gallons of gasoline consumed
550+
homes’ electricity use for one year
38% of food goes unsold or uneaten across the U.S., which consumes 5% of our country’s greenhouse gases. And here in Massachusetts, wasted food takes up more space in landfills than anything else. These harmful gases are causing our planet to warm, contributing to the climate emergency already affecting people here in Massachusetts and around the world.
Food recovery is one tool we have to curb emissions from wasted food – while feeding people!
Food recovery honors the value of food and saves our partners money.
$10.8M
is the value of the food Spoonfuls recovered in 2024
90+
food brands and retailers are eligible for an enhanced tax deduction thanks to their food donations to Spoonfuls
200
community-based food programs receive Spoonfuls’ food deliveries each week at no cost
The community organizations that receive food from Spoonfuls also receive that food at no cost. For many of our partners, this means they’re able to offer their participants more food – and more fresh food – than they would have been able to provide otherwise. For others, it means they can allocate more of their limited program budgets to the various important services they offer.
