Challenge Accepted: From Food Waste to Community Impact

Join UCI’s Climate & Urban Sustainability Program (CUSP) and IKEA Costa Mesa for a timely conversation on an overlooked challenge in sustainability and social equity: food recovery and food waste diversion and scaling sustainable systems together with South County Outreach.

While community food kitchens and pantries play a critical role in addressing hunger, they face an equally pressing challenge: how to consistently source, store, and distribute food at scale. At the same time, restaurants and food businesses dispose of large volumes of edible food every day. Bridging this gap is not as simple as donation alone; it requires coordination, refrigeration, transportation, staffing, and efficient systems.

This event moves beyond awareness to explore how food recovery systems can be streamlined, scaled, and sustained. Keynote Speaker, LaVal Brewer, and Panelists will share real-world experiences to highlight both the struggles and the solutions involved in food waste diversion and recovery.

Know what’s Happening Next — before everyone else does.

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Host or Publisher IKEA Costa Mesa