August 2025 Changemaker: Park Ridge Whole Foods Market

Whole Foods Market believes that food can be a force for good, a principle that drives its purpose to nourish both people and the planet. Recognizing the fundamental link between climate and business, the company has taken on the responsibility of creating a more resilient food system.
This commitment is exemplified through a comprehensive food waste reduction strategy. As an active member of ReFED and the World Wildlife Fund’s U.S. Food Waste Pact, Whole Foods set an ambitious goal: reduce food waste by 50%. To achieve this, the company focuses on three key strategies--decrease, donate, divert.

• Decrease: Whole Foods works to prevent food waste before it happens. Through programs like Too Good To Go and Enjoy Today, the company saved more than 636,000 meals from landfills in 2024 while also providing customers with high-quality food at affordable prices.
• Donate: When food is safe to eat but unsold, it is donated to those in need. In 2024, Whole Foods donated over 34 million pounds of food—enough for nearly 29 million meals—through more than 1,000 food rescue and redistribution programs nationwide.
• Divert: Food that cannot be consumed is kept out of landfills through organic diversion programs such as composting. By the end of 2024, 84% of stores had active diversion programs, collectively keeping more than 91,000 tons of food waste out of landfills.

Through these efforts, Whole Foods Market demonstrates how sustainable practices, waste reduction, and community engagement can work together to create a more responsible and equitable food system—one that will last for generations to come.

**ICYMI**
Park RIdge Whole Foods Market works with woman-owned Collective Resource Compost Cooperative(CRCC) which has been a worker- and consumer-owned co-op since the summer of 2023. CRCC has been providing organics hauling services for over a decade to residents, businesses, restaurants, caterers, venues, faith communities, schools, soup kitchens, and food pantries. They are making it easier and easier for Park Ridge to reduce landfill waste residentially, at two drop off locations, and with Park Ridge's vibrant business community. 

Thank you, Park Ridge Whole Foods Market and Collective Resource Compost Cooperative!