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21st Century Operations Using 21st Century Technologies

United States - European Commission Urban Freight Twinning Initiative: Compendium of Project Summaries, Volume II
Overview of 2018-2019 International Urban Freight Roundtables

Seattle Food Rescue Program

Seattle Public Utilities (SPU) is recruiting freight participation in its Food Rescue Program, which diverts unnecessary disposal of food out of the waste stream and redirects food to support meal programs. One of its charges is to take advantage of food delivery systems to "reverse capture" food while keeping it fresh and secure. The freight program is helping SPU connect to the University of Washington's Urban Freight Lab (UFL) partners to engage in food rescue research and development and to provide delivery transportation insights to rescue initiatives.

graphic of The Long and Winding Road of Food Rescue illustrates the steps it takes for the Food Rescue Program to get food from donors to hungry people
Food Rescue has many components. Seattle and the Urban Freight Lab are working to map their logistic interactions and needs.
Source: Seattle DOT

Project Type

Research.

Period of Performance

March 2019 - December 2019.

Project Site

Seattle, Washington, USA.

Contact

Christopher Eaves
Senior Civil Engineer - Freight Program
Seattle Department of Transportation
Seattle, Washington
Christopher.Eaves@seattle.gov
(206) 684-4524

Topics Addressed

  • Last mile delivery.
  • Livability/quality of life.
  • Logistics/distribution.
  • Supply chains.
  • Other: equity.

Expected Outcomes

SPU is creating a Food Rescue Innovation lab with a framework similar to the UFL with the intent to facilitate information exchange and expand food rescue coordination. SDOT and University of Washington's UFL will apply expertise to map the multiple supply chains to support a benefits case review and identify inefficiencies and overlap.

Stakeholder Involvement

Seattle Public Utilities is convening Food Rescue Lab meetings; SDOT and University of Washington UFL are mapping and evaluating supply chains.

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