Spoonfuls, New England’s largest food recovery organization, has surpassed a major milestone in its 16-year existence — its 50 millionth pound of food, which is the equivalent of 40 million meals or roughly $95 million. It also means less food waste. Food as it decomposes generates methane gas, and by diverting 50 million pounds from landfills, Spoonfuls has prevented an estimated 24,500 metric tons of greenhouse gas emissions. That’s equivalent to the emissions from cars driven 62.5 million miles.
It’s a bittersweet moment, says Erin Ash, Spoonfuls’ head of programs, as the organization faces increased need.
“It took Spoonfuls seven years to recover our first 7 million pounds of food,” she says. “Now we’re recovering over 7 million pounds every year and counting.”
Ash points to a confluence of events that has triggered that increased need, something she says isn’t exclusive to the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. Nearly 2 in 5 Massachusetts households face food insecurity, according to data from the Greater Boston Food Bank.
“It’s from a combination of federal cuts to the safety net programs like SNAP, Massachusetts Department of Transition Assistance (DTA) caseworker shortages in administering the program here, and then ongoing high costs of things like food, rent, utilities, gas.”
Spoonfuls reaches about 86,000 people through the 270 community partners it serves and its 120 food donors.
The Operational Engine Behind Food Recovery
That growing need underscores the work that Spoonfuls does in communities. Ash says to reach 50 million pounds, Spoonfuls relies on a strong team to execute routes and recover food, alongside strong donor support to help fund the much-needed work.
“It definitely depends on funding to keep our trucks on the road, keeping gas in our tanks so that we’re keeping this good food out of landfills,” she says.
It also takes strong relationships with grocers to help source the much-needed perishable items. She says connections made have really helped the organization continue to recover more food more efficiently.
“Produce, for example, that’s the type of food that is some of the most commonly wasted because of that comparatively shorter shelf life, and it’s also one of the main things that our end recipients need and want, but can’t as easily afford,” she says.
Cutting down on food waste and providing great perishable items from its donors to partner organizations helps both sides fill critical gaps.
“The need has just grown and grown and grown,” she says. “That’s a great opportunity for Spoonfuls to step into that gap between the two and fill it and say like ‘We can we can source food. We can source it from grocery retail. We can source it from other sources as well, like producers, manufacturers, farms, stadiums, etc.’ And we can get that food to that to that long list of organizations that are interested in receiving those items.”
Spoonfuls also reached this milestone through additional routes. Ash says that while Spoonfuls currently runs 10 routes throughout the state, it will ad a South Shore route next week to make it 11, which she says helps increase and expand Spoonfuls’ impact.
While Spoonfuls reached the 50-million pound milestone in its 16th year, Ash says the organization does have ambitious goals in the future. Additional routes will help with that growth, as she says there’s always room to add more recovery stops and more partner organizations to support.
“When we launch a new route, we know that route has room to continue to grow and to be cultivated in future years,” she says. “You see these newer routes really step up and change and evolve over time. We might start with six food donors and 15 organizations in a year and then we might have nine food donors and 22 organizations the next year.”
Spoonfuls is having internal conversations about what 2028’s goal will be, but Ash says it’s not out of the realm of possibility that the organization could recover 8 million pounds in 2028. Maximizing routes and partners is a major part of achieving that goal.
“Right now, we serve 100 cities and towns in Massachusetts. That number is going to go up in 2027,” she says. “We’re at over 270 community partners right now. We will definitely be over 300 at some time in 2027.”
Ash says Spoonfuls is also planning to expand its reach outside of the state of Massachusetts for the first time, too, into Rhode Island, which is going to be an exciting milestone for the organization.
“Our goal is to continue to grow in future years,” she says. “We start our expansions with community conversations. That’s where we start community-wise, and we talk with organizations throughout New England.”
Conversations stem around community needs but sourcing the food along that route.
Navigating Rising Fuel Costs and Daily Logistics
As Spoonfuls looks to its next major milestone, Ash says rising fuel costs have impacted the organization. Spoonfuls’ fleet of trucks drive around 3,600 miles a month to recover and distribute around 120,000 pounds of fresh food every week. That’s the equivalent of around 96,000 meals. Ash says it takes about $160 to cover one tank of gas. While the organization budgeted for rising costs, this year has surpassed the budget. But, Ash says, one thing the organization hasn’t done is drop stops.
“What we’re doing here is we’re not cutting stops because of the gas mileage,” she says. “It’s more like figuring out how to make that not a problematic hurdle.”
Ash says, “everything we’re picking up and distributing is on the same day” and the produce and other items recovered from Spoonfuls’ donors are in excellent condition.
“Because we don’t warehouse anything,” she says. “Everything that comes on the truck goes off the truck in the same day, it means that we’re really well equipped to handle perishables. You’re not losing any time with it sitting in a building overnight. You’re getting it directly to an organization, and it can get into individual hands fast.”
And all the donations go to community-based organizations throughout the state of Massachusetts, serving people facing food insecurity.
“We’re doing this because one, it presents an opportunity to mitigate waste and food waste, especially perishables. And two, because so many people can use that food right now, so that is the double benefit of the Spoonfuls work.”
