Airport to help Keep Austin Fed

Rather than sending unsold, packaged food to the landfill, the Austin-Bergstrom International Airport now funnels those items into a Food Rescue Program that distributes them to people in need. The program started in March, and has so far diverted 3,500 products including sandwiches, salads and snack boxes. It’s the result of a collaboration between the airport, the businesses that inhabit it and local nonprofit Keep Austin Fed, which connects surplus food with the hungriest in our community. “While working on the composting and recycling initiatives, we realized there was a perfect opportunity to implement a food rescue program,” said B.J. Carpenter, the airport’s sustainability program coordinator. “As part of our overall waste program and sustainability goals, we look for new ways to reduce waste and keep things out of the landfill.”