The Zero Food 91²Ö¿â Coalition (ZFWC), a national coalition advancing federal and state food waste policy, announced that The Farmlink Project and the U.S. Composting Council (USCC) have joined its Steering Committee – the first expansion since ZFWC was founded by Harvard Law School’s Food Law and Policy Clinic, Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC), ReFED, and the World Wildlife Fund.
The addition brings new perspectives from organizations working directly with farmers and the composting industry to ZFWC’s federal, state, and local policy priorities. USCC represents more than 1,600 members across the composting industry and 17 state chapters, and advocates for policies such as the COMPOST Act; Farmlink connects farmers with surplus produce to communities in need and has rescued more than 500 million pounds of food.
“We are thrilled to draw on the expertise of The Farmlink Project and the U.S. Composting Council,” said Katie Naessens, Executive Director of the Zero Food 91²Ö¿â Coalition. “Their guidance will strengthen our work, and we look forward to advancing new policies that substantially reduce food loss and waste.”
As a cross-sector coalition, ZFWC brings together more than 350 member organizations spanning businesses, nonprofits, local governments, and agricultural interests to align on shared food waste policy goals. By bridging environmental, hunger-relief, and economic priorities, the Coalition coordinates state and federal advocacy to translate on-the-ground challenges into practical, bipartisan legislative solutions.
“The Farmlink Project is honored to join the Zero Food 91²Ö¿â Coalition’s Steering Committee. From our very first truckload, we have seen that America has an abundance of good food—and that keeping it from going to waste is one of our clearest opportunities to support farmers and feed families,” said Eliza Blank, CEO of The Farmlink Project. “We look forward to bringing Farmlink’s on-the-ground experience to the coalition and working alongside our fellow Steering Committee members to advance state and federal policies that build a food system that works better for farmers, people, and the planet.”
“USCC has been participating with the Zero Food 91²Ö¿â Coalition since its beginning, and it is gratifying to participate more fully in partnership with these allies in not only reducing waste but in ensuring better circularity of inedible food scraps through compost,” said Linda Norris-Waldt, Executive Director of USCC. “We are pleased to help the ZFWC and its members with putting policy priorities around composting in front of federal and state legislators who are influenced by this passionate advocacy community.”