Maine Wasted Food Prevention Week

WHEREAS, food is one of Maine’s most valuable resources and is essential for the health and nutrition of all our 1.4 million residents; and

WHEREAS, nearly 40 percent of food produced in Maine is never eaten – over 361,000 tons annually – primarily ending up in landfills where it produces dangerous methane gas which is 28 times more potent than carbon dioxide and a major contributor to climate change; and

WHEREAS, Maine people can save money by preventing wasted food, with the average Maine family spending nearly $3,000 annually on food that is thrown away; and

WHEREAS, over 80 percent of consumers misunderstand food date labels causing large amounts of perfectly good food to be thrown away in homes, businesses, and even food pantries; and

WHEREAS, Maine communities can substantially reduce their waste disposal costs by preventing wasted food since food is the single largest municipal solid waste component; and

WHEREAS, Maine K-12 schools have a special role in educating our next generation to reduce, recover, and recycle the estimated 7 million pounds of school food wasted annually; and

WHEREAS, we can help our farmers, strengthen our local food systems, and conserve our natural resources – water, air, energy, and land – by valuing Maine food and composting food scraps instead of wasting it as trash;

NOW THEREFORE, be it resolved that I, Janet T. Mills, Governor of the State of Maine, do hereby proclaim the week of September 28-October 4, 2026, as

and I encourage all Maine people to become aware of the wasted food in our homes, schools and all around us, and to commit to stop throwing food away.

In testimony whereof, I have caused
the Great Seal of the State to be
hereunto affixed GIVEN under my
hand at Augusta this second day
of September Two Thousand Twenty-Six