For many people, the price of groceries has been a sore subject. Prices for all food items are predicted to increase by more than 3% throughout the year. That’s according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Consumer Price Index.
Data from Butte County’s 2023 Community Health Assessment shows that about 13% of residents face food insecurity. That means they don’t have reliable and consistent access to sufficient food sources. The county’s average number of food insecure people is higher than the state’s average of about 11%.
Despite this, consumers and businesses continue to generate food waste, or food that is edible but gets thrown away.
ReFed is a nonprofit that tracks food waste in the nation. According to its 2025 U.S. Food Waste Report, food businesses lose about $108 billion on wasted surplus food, while consumers spend about $800 a year on food they don’t eat.
530 Food Rescue Coalition is working to combat that waste in Butte County while simultaneously addressing food insecurity.
“Food has been identified as this very valuable commodity that we need to think thoughtfully through how we're disposing of it,” said Sheila McQuaid, the project director for 530 Food Rescue Coalition. “If it's edible, it needs to go to people.”
The organization works throughout the county to save good food from getting wasted by transporting it to nonprofits who distribute it to residents in need. It’s a partnership between the Community Action Agency of Butte County and the Chico State’s Center for Healthy Communities.
530 Food Rescue Coalition formed in preparation for California's Short-Lived Climate Pollutant Reduction Strategy , which went into effect in 2022.
That law aims to fight climate change by requiring counties and businesses to separate food waste from garbage. Its target is to have 20% of edible food recovered this year.
County leaders are also working to comply with that law. That includes figuring out how to reduce household waste. 530 Food Rescue Coalition works specifically with businesses.
How 530 Food Rescue operates
530 Food Rescue Coalition takes food from businesses and delivers it to nonprofits. Those nonprofits give the food out to hungry residents. The coalition essentially takes the “hassle” out of donating foods for businesses, McQuaid said.
Much of Butte County is rural, and although McQuaid said there is a “robust” food distribution system available, some areas don’t have the same access to them. She said that the coalition compliments those services by transporting food to where they’re located.
“It's kind of the ‘and’ not the ‘or’ solution,” she said. “We recognize food insecurity is everywhere, and so we really strive to complement the existing food pantry system by being able to deliver food.”
They do it mainly through their app, Food Rescue Hero.
“That's like Uber for food rescue,” said McQuaid.
When a business lets the team know a donation is available, they can send an alert through the app. Volunteers can “claim” that opportunity, go to the business, pick up the food and drop it off to the nonprofit needing the donation.
The donation gets sent to one of the more than 80 nonprofits 530 Food Rescue works with.
“Our dispatch team really tries to place donations intentionally, just to make sure that that food will be well received and utilized by the nonprofit that it gets sent to,” said Addie Walsh, a program manager for the coalition.
The live dispatch team is made up of California Climate Action Corps fellows. They update the app with available donations and offer support to volunteers if they encounter any issues on their trip.
Additionally, the app can collect data from the donations, like how much food was dropped off in real time. The data helps inform the county of how much food is being redistributed.
“We've done over 3,650 rescues, and 94% of those food rescues have been done by community volunteers,” said McQuaid.
The donations are also helpful in tracking the food business’s surplus, McQuaid said. If they know how much extra food they are producing, they’re able to save money in the long run and find out where to cut back.
Donations can vary from large pallets of surplus food to just a few bags. Larger donations can be picked up by their fleet trucks, but McQuaid said a majority of donations get picked up by volunteers.
“The beauty of food rescue is that we are so flexible with what we can pick up because of our community volunteer component,” said McQuaid.
The coalition works with multiple businesses including farms, hospitals, restaurants and grocery stores. Some donate frequently, while others donate a handful of times.
Ongoing “food rescues” happen on a weekly schedule, while businesses with one-time donations can call 530 Food Rescue’s dispatch line at 530-285-5757 or fill out an online form.
“We wanted to be solution focused with this project and really support our food businesses, because we care a lot about them,” she said.
However, the need for food right now is demanding. 530 Food Rescue currently has a waiting list for nonprofits that can be served. To accommodate that need, McQuaid said that the coalition is looking for more businesses who would be willing to donate.
Individual volunteers are also welcome.
Reducing your own waste
Alongside helping reduce food insecurity, preventing food waste has a large impact on the environment. Walsh said that when food waste ends up in landfills, there is usually no oxygen to help it decompose, which causes it to emit greenhouse gas emissions.
Surplus food produced a total of 230 million metric tons of carbon dioxide in 2023, according to ReFed. 530 Food Rescue estimates that it has reduced carbon dioxide emissions by 655 metric tons since they started.
“What we've learned through this work is that reducing food waste is the quickest way we can see the negative trajectory that our climate is on right now,” Walsh said.
Much of surplus food waste comes from individual households. On average, a person leaves 200 pounds worth of food in and out of their home uneaten.
There are many ways to prevent food waste. Walsh said learning new habits that help you throw out less food can also help you save money.
Some of these habits include using food you already have in your fridge or cupboard, eating leftovers and being creative with recipes by using ingredients in your pantry.
“You could even keep a log of what you're throwing away frequently, if you wanted to be very committed to reducing household food waste and kind of see what you're wasting and why you're wasting it,” Walsh said.
Waiting to buy groceries after you go on a trip can also prevent food from going bad in your fridge. Eating perishables first before anything else is also important to keep in mind.
“I have a sticker that I put on the top shelf that says, ‘eat me.’ And I put all the items that are likely to go bad on that shelf, so my family recognizes that these need to be eaten first,” said McQuaid.
