WHEREAS, up to 35 percent of all food produced in Maine is thrown away rather than eaten; and

WHEREAS, safe and nutritious food that is currently thrown away could instead help feed the 1 in 7 Maine children and 1 in 10 Maine adults who go hungry; and

WHEREAS, Maine can help our farmers and build our food system by recycling inedible food waste and returning the nutrients and energy to the soil as compost instead of trash; and

WHEREAS, everyone benefits from ending food waste, including the average Maine family that can save up to $1,800 a year by reducing edible wasted food, communities that can save on waste disposal costs, and Maine schools that can save on food costs and improve nutrition by reducing the estimated 7 million pounds of food wasted annually; and

WHEREAS, Maine has the opportunity to conserve our valuable resources – land, water, energy, and labor – used to produce and transport food that ultimately goes wasted; and

WHEREAS, Maine K-12 schools have a special role in educating our next generation to reduce, recover, and recycle food, and this younger generation can help educate their families; and

WHEREAS, we must do all we can to keep food waste out of the trash where it ends up in landfills producing dangerous methane gas, 28 times more potent than Carbon Dioxide and a major contributor to climate change;

NOW, THEREFORE, be it resolved that I, Janet T. Mills, Governor of the State of Maine, do hereby proclaim the week of September 25th through 29th, 2023 as

Maine Food Waste Awareness Week

and I encourage all Maine people – young and old – to become aware of the wasted food in our homes, schools, and all around us, and to commit to stop throwing food away.

In testimony whereof, I have caused the Great Seal of the State to be hereunto affixed GIVEN under my hand at Augusta this eighth day of September Two Thousand Twenty Three