Would you like to know more about why Imperfect fights to end food waste?
Because it’s the right thing to do.
For us, this is a story about finding creative ways to reduce food waste. Imperfect is the latest venture launched by Ben Simon and Ben Chesler. We’ve been passionate about food waste for a long time, always with the same goal in mind: Keep food from being wasted, and provide it to people instead.
It all started when we launched the Food Recovery Network in 2011 to recover leftover food from campus dining halls. After 700,000 pounds of food recovered and 150 college campuses, we began looking for ways to have an even bigger impact. And we found it – on farms, where 20% of the produce grown never makes it to a human mouth, in large part because it is simply the wrong shape, size, or color.
We realized that across the country, ugly produce (or as we like to say, “cosmetically-challenged produce”) is being treated like a second-class citizen. Every year six billion pounds of fruits and vegetables go to waste on farms across the U.S. just for looking a little different from other produce. Instead of going to feed people, all that wasted produce is sitting in landfills, where it releases methane gas into the atmosphere.
So we came up with the idea to reduce this food waste while making produce more affordable for all families. We’ve teamed up on this project with Ron Clark, who has worked for the California Association of Food Banks for the last 15 years sourcing ugly produce to keep it from going to waste.
Imperfect gives consumers the chance to buy delicious, wonky-looking produce at a discount. So instead of going to waste, all those odd-looking fruits and vegetables will be helping Americans eat healthier, at a price they can afford.
We’re excited to start this journey and we would love for you to join us.
You can look at our different fruit and veggie boxes HERE.
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