Links and Resources About Food Recovery in the San Francisco Bay Area

EPA’s Wasted Food Scale is a curved spectrum showing options for reducing the environmental impacts of wasted food, from most preferred to least preferred. The options are to prevent wasted food, donate food, upcycle food, feed animals, leave food unharvested, use anaerobic digestion with beneficial use of digestate or biosolids, compost, use anaerobic digestion without beneficial use of digestate or biosolids, or apply food waste to the land. Sending food waste down the drain, landfilling, and incineration
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EPA’s Wasted Food Scale ranks these food waste reduction activities from most preferred to least preferred.

On this page:

Prevent Wasted Food

Produce, buy, and serve only what is needed. There are many resources available to prevent wasted food:

Donate or Upcycle

Good Samaritan Act

The Bill Emerson Good Samaritan Act (pdf) was created to prevent good surplus food from going to waste by protecting donors from liability when donating to charitable organizations.

Highlights

  • Encourages the donation of surplus food.
  • Protects all food and grocery donors who donate in good faith to a non-profit organization.
  • Protects all food and grocery donors who donate in good faith to a non-profit organization.
  • Provides protection for food and grocery products that meet all quality labeling standards imposed by federal, state and local laws and regulations.
Legal Guide

(1) LIABILITY OF PERSON OR GLEANER – A person or gleaner shall not be subject to civil or criminal liability arising from the nature, age, packaging, or condition of apparently wholesome food or an apparently fit grocery product that the person or gleaner donates in good faith to a nonprofit organization for ultimate distribution to needy individuals.
- Courtesy of the Bill Emerson Good Samaritan Act

The resources below include national, regional and local organizations which take food donations in the Bay Area. Most take non-perishables, and some accept surplus perishable foods. Be prepared to describe your donations in terms of packaging, preparation, frequency and type.

  • Food Runners (San Francisco)
    Picks up and delivers perishable/prepared food the same day to feed the hungry.
    • Call (415) 929-1866 or email the dispatcher at [email protected] with the type and amount of food and the name and address of the business along with a contact number.

  • Jewish Family & Children’s Services
    San Francisco—2150 Post Street
    San Mateo—2001 Winward Way #200
    Palo Alto—200 Channing Ave
    San Rafael—600 Fifth Ave

  • ExtraFood.org (Marin County)
    Picks up excess fresh food from organizations and delivers it immediately to nonprofits serving Marin’s most vulnerable people. (415) 997-9830
  • Peninsula Food Runners (San Mateo/Santa Clara Counties)
    (415) 826-6903; Picks up excess fresh food from organizations and provides matches to recipients via email with the mobile app Chowmatch.
  • Sonoma Food Runners
    Collects quality, donated perishable and prepared foods by appointment which volunteers distribute throughout the community to those in need. (707) 596-8711 or [email protected].
  • White Pony Express (Contra Costa County)
    • Picks up and delivers perishable/prepared food the same day to feed the hungry in Contra Costa County.
    • Call (925) 322-0604 and leave a message or email [email protected] with: kind of food (prepared, produce or other perishables, dry goods, etc.), physical size of donation (bag, box, palette, etc.), where it can be picked up and contact person.
    • Pickup from 9 am and 9 pm, within 2 hours.
  • Food Shift
    • Works with businesses in the San Francisco Bay Area to reduce shrinkage, donate surplus food and educate their customers about food waste.
    • Recovers perishable and nonperishable food items from grocery stores and catered events and donates the surplus food to partner agencies that feed the hungry.
  • Chefs to End Hunger
    Formed by LA and SF Specialty Bakeries that provides businesses with kits containing delivery boxes, pads and aluminum pans to fill with donation food. Once the kit is filled and packed, they can be given to a Specialty Bakery Driver where the boxes will be consolidated and donated to a food bank.

Apps and Web-Based Services

  • Feeding Forward
  • Feeding Forward connects businesses with excess edible food to recipients using a smartphone app or social media, to request a food pick up for leftovers. On-demand drivers handle pickup and notify the donor when en route.
  • Waste No Food
    Farms, restaurants, cafeterias, hotels and grocery stores post excess food on the Waste No Food website. Aid group organizations, who have been vetted, can see what is available locally and confirm with transactions online to secure food. The food access is based on location. The organizations are responsible for all transportation and food handling.

Bay Area and Elsewhere

  • Rock and Wrap It Up!
    • Connects 40+ million Americans with excess food in their home or community garden with local food pantries.
    • Find a Local Pantry: Self-reported – name, address, phone, hours, donation types.
  • California Food Banks Farms to Families Program
    Growers and packers can now receive a tax credit for donating produce to food banks, and in some cases CAFB can provide reimbursement for special picking and packing costs.
  • Sustainable America
    Locate Food Rescue organizations. 
  • Food Pantries
    Many local charitable organizations that accept food have varying or limited capabilities to store food donations and therefore limit the types or timing of donations. Further, the San Francisco Bay Area has a well developed food pickup network (e.g., Foodrunners, etc.) that efficiently collect and distribute excess food to food banks or directly to food pantries. Consequently, food preparers should first contact food pickup services or the food banks. It’s often best to contact several to determine which can use your donations.
  • Food Banks
    Regional food banks work with local food pantries, homeless shelters and other charities for food donation. While many food banks are unable to accept perishable and prepared food, they often work with donors to find perishable food options nearby. Listed below, are the main food banks in the San Francisco Bay Area.

  • ReFed Innovator Database
    The Database is a living compilation of commercial and nonprofit entities turning the food waste problem into an opportunity for economic, social, and environmental impacts. This growing database is broken down by food waste solution type, organizational status, and geographic reach. Categories include secondary marketplaces that connect surplus food (food that would otherwise be wasted) to buyers. Upcyclers convert edible food that is currently considered waste (e.g., surplus/cosmetically challenged produce, brewery waste, vegetable trimmings) into value-added consumer food products (e.g., juices, fruit snacks, energy bars). The Database also list variety of food recovery organizations that capture edible food that would otherwise go to waste on farms, within the supply chain, or in consumer-facing businesses, and redistributes it to food insecure populations.

Donation Center Location Type of Food Accepted
San Francisco and Marin Food Banks 900 Pennsylvania Ave San Francisco, CA 94107
(415) 282-1900 		Non-perishables; perishable fruits and veggies
Food Bank of Contra Costa and Solano P.O. Box 6324 Concord CA 94524
(855) 309-FOOD (3663)		 Non-perishables; perishable fruits and veggies
Alameda County Community Food Bank 7900 Edgewater Drive, Oakland, CA 94621
(510) 635-FOOD (3663)		 Non-perishables; perishable fruits and veggies
Second Harvest Food Bank of Santa Clara & San Mateo Counties 750 Curtner Avenue, San Jose CA 95125
(408) 266-8866		 Non-perishables; perishable fruits and veggies
Second Harvest Food Bank Santa Cruz County 800 Ohlone Parkway Watsonville, CA 95076
(831) 722-7110		 Non-perishables, contact for perishables and prepared foods
Redwood Empire Food Bank 3990 Brickway Blvd. Santa Rosa, CA 95403
(707) 523-7900		 Non-perishables, contact for perishables and prepared foods
Napa Valley Food Bank 1766 Industrial Way Napa, CA 94558
(707) 253-6128		 Non-perishables, contact for perishables and prepared foods

Feed Animals

Pig/Hog Farms

Large pig farms may accept food scraps. The Federal Swine Health Protection Act requires that food containing, or that comes in contact with meat or animal materials must be boiled before being fed to pigs. Consequently, many local pig farmers are primarily interested in single-stream fruits and vegetables or grain waste. Arrangements are often informal, and can be intermittent. Below is a list of pig farms, their location, contact information for them and other notes that may be useful:

Pig Farm Location Contact Notes
Devil’s Gulch Ranch Nicasio, CA Mark Pasternak
(707) 953-0923
[email protected]		 Currently receive grains and dairy; interested in produce; no ability to cook mixed food waste
Leland Street Farms Bodega Bay, CA Nancy Prebilich
(707) 477-0879
[email protected]		 Previously used food scraps, and excess from beer and tortilla factories
Winkler Farms Windsor, CA Tim Winkler
(707) 291-5001		 No food scrap system currently; interested in fruits and vegetables only
Marin Sun Farms Point Reyes Station, CA David
(415) 663-8997 [email protected]		 Contact for info
Clark Summit Farm Tomales, CA Liz or Dan
(707) 876-3516
[email protected]		 Contact for info
Grabish Farm Dixon, CA Amy Grabish
(707) 689-2960 [email protected]		 Contact for info
Walnut Keep Suisun Valley, California (707) 290-5168
[email protected]		 Contact for info

Spent Brewery Grain

Spent brewery grain can be used as animal feed, primarily for cattle, but also for pigs, goats, fish and almost any livestock. Most breweries give the grain away to local farms. Manufacturers with single food waste streams can find local farms and ranches to donate their excess/by-product.

Anaerobic Digestion, and Fats, Oils & Grease

Fats, oils and grease, also known as FOG, can be converted to fuels and has various industrial uses. FOG and food scraps can also be anaerobically digested to create energy and the digestate can be composted to create a soil amendment. Bay Area options and resources include:

Name Biogas Type Links
East Bay Municipal Utility District Accepts food waste collected by garbage haulers from the Cities of San Francisco and Oakland. Food scraps recycling web page and Information on their Trucked Waste Program
Central Marin Food To Energy Accepts food waste collected by garbage haulers from San Rafael, San Anselmo, Fairfax, Ross, Kentfield, Greenbrae and Larkspur About the Central Marin Commercial Food-to-Energy Program and Central Marin Sanitation Agency Food Waste Information
Zero Waste Energy Development (ZWEDC) Accepts food waste collected by garbage haulers from City of San Jose Commercial Wet Organic Waste  

Compost

Composting turns food scraps into a nutrient-rich soil amendments and can be done on site in smaller amounts or on a larger scale at a municipal or commercial level.

  • Find a Composter
    Searchable database of local composting facilities that may accept food waste; results from January 2015 search are included in the table below.
  • Recology
    Transporter of much of the compostable/food scrap in San Francisco Bay Area.
  • Redwood Landfill
    Takes food waste hauled by Novato Disposal to the Redwood Landfill and Recycling Center run by Waste Management; 8950 Redwood Highway, PO Box 793, Novato, CA 94945; (415) 408-9052
  • Sonoma Compost Co.
    Food Scrap Composting. Informational video on starting a composting program in a restaurant; 550 Mecham Road, Petaluma, CA 94952; (707) 664-9113
  • Grab n Grow Soil
    Compost from green waste, agricultural products, including grape pomace from wineries, apple pomace from canneries, cow manure from dairies and horse manures from ranches; Drop off: Stony Point Rock Quarry located at 7171 Stony Point Rd, Cotati, CA 94931; (707) 795-1775
  • The Compost Navigator
    Enter your address and any of eight material categories you’d like to sustainably manage, and the nearest composters (and AD facilities) will pop up in the map.
  • San Francisco Business Recycling and Composting
  • Contra Costa County Recycling Options, Food Scraps

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Last updated on July 18, 2024