As we enter 2025’s Food Waste Prevention week, we’re reflecting on the ways that City Fruit has supported food waste prevention in our community.
According to the Washington State Department of Ecology’s 2015 baseline data, our state wastes on average 1.2 millions tons of food waste annually with 390,063 tons (3%) of that waste being edible. Yet, more and more people are having to rely on food assistance programs just to be able to provide food for themselves and their families. In Washington, with a population of nearly 8 million people and just over 3 million households, 11.4% of individuals and 16.6% of households receive SNAP benefits to afford the cost of food. That equates to 701,754 individuals and 186,746 households. Comparing these numbers, it’s clear that the issue is not a food shortage, but rather the lack of an efficient and equitable food system that allows people the basic capacity to afford, gather, and consume food that is nourishing and enjoyable.
Harvesting between 30,000-45,000 pounds of fruit annually, City Fruit is by no means a fix-all solution for food waste and food accessibility. Rather, we serve as a connector between those with food abundance and those experiencing food insecurity. We were founded with the intention to curb Seattle’s fruit waste by sharing information with local fruit tree owners on how and where to share their fruit.Today, we have expanded on that mission by directly harvesting from fruit tree owners and directing their fruit to 30-40 food banks and meal programs across Seattle, all while working with an annual budget of less than $500,000! As the saying goes, we are small but mighty.
Who makes this work possible?
Volunteers! We partner with local Seattle orchards to help steward public fruit trees through year-round tree care and harvesting. Unbeknownst to many, there are hundreds of public fruit trees across the city where fruit just goes to waste. When we bring volunteers to an orchard harvest, we’re directly saving this fruit from rotting on the ground and connecting it with our division partners to process it into a consumable product! Volunteers are a key component in carrying out this work to keep these orchards healthy. Year-round, we host a multitude of events where volunteers can join us to learn about tree care practices such as fruit tree pruning, thinning, netting, and of course harvesting! We truly would not be able to rescue the amount of fruit that we do without the many helping hands that volunteers provide us.
Diversion and donation partners! Whether the fruit is going to be eaten fresh or processed into an edible or drinkable produce (i.e. applesauce or cider!), our community partners are the ones who ensure that the fruit we harvest gets used. For ready-to-eat fruit, we prioritize distribution to our community donation partners so that individuals or families experiencing food-access barriers can receive and enjoy it. However, not all of the fruit we harvest is edible quality. Many trees we harvest from have pest-damaged fruit, which makes it unsuitable for our community partners. To ensure that all of the fruit City Fruit harvests goes to use, we’ve cultivated relationships with multiple diversion partners who can take this fruit that is still very much valuable and usable, and make it into other edible products! Some of these partnerships include cideries like Greenwood Cider Co and Seattle Cider, or restaurants/ bakeries like Zylberschtein’s, Salmonberry Goods, and Dahlia Bakery, among others!
Tree owners! Tree owners are just as much of a partner to City Fruit as any other. Without our partnership with local tree-owning residents, we wouldn’t be able to distribute any fruit to our food banks, meal programs, cideries, or other local businesses. Since our founding in 2008, it’s estimated that City Fruit has harvested and redirected over 142,000 lbs of fruit from residential tree owners and public orchards. The care that our tree owners have to reduce fruit waste and ensure that their excess produce is being utilized is a part of the core foundation of City Fruit’s mission. Check out our pages on donating your fruit or our Tree Care Services if you’re interested in partnering with City Fruit to reduce your own fruit waste or to better care for your own fruit tree!
Regardless of the stakeholder, the work of redirecting local fruit from waste is most definitely a team effort. When we can recognize the value of a piece of fruit, especially in a world where food access is far from equal, we’re better able to sustain our communities and the land we inhabit.
However, it’s inevitable that an organization like City Fruit will have some fruit waste of our own. We typically have a small amount of fruit waste each season that we compost. In 2025, we’re focused on becoming even more zero-waste by making partnerships with local organizations who can process our fruit waste, so that we are continuing to keep the fruit in a sustainable circular economy for the benefit of the Seattle community. Stay tuned to see what’s to come in 2025!