2026 ReFED Food Waste Solutions Summit
May 19–21, 2026 | Charlotte, NC
The Westin Charlotte
Summit Schedule
From mainstage and breakout sessions to networking events, workshops, happy hours, a trivia challenge, and more, this year's Summit promises to be our most jam-packed yet. Here's a look at what's in store!
[Optional] Side Meetings & Workshops
Various
[Optional] Field Trips
Various
"Just in Thyme" Food Waste Trivia
Providence Ballroom III
Before the Summit gets into gear, join us for some fun, food waste-themed trivia at the hottest game in town! Connect with other conference attendees in an informal setting and put your knowledge to the test for a chance to win prizes—and bragging rights—for Summit week!
ReFED: Live Offers and Needs Market
Providence Ballroom II
In partnership with the Post-Growth Institute, ReFED is hosting an in-person Offers and Needs Market at this year’s Summit. It’s a two-hour, guided session that will help attendees identify and exchange passions, knowledge, skills, resources, opportunities, and needs related to their professional journeys in food waste. Because solving food waste will take all of us working together.
This opportunity is open for all and does not require pre-registration.
FailFest
Providence Ballroom I
Behind every breakthrough idea in food waste reduction are dozens that didn’t quite work out as planned—and that’s OK! And at this year’s Summit, we’re making space for them. FailFest is a live storytelling session spotlighting bold, honest accounts of professional failure—missed goals, pilots that didn’t scale, partnerships that unraveled, companies that pivoted (or folded), and strategies that fell flat. Why? Because failure is data. Failure builds resilience. And failure helps the entire ecosystem move faster.
Catalytic Grant Fund Happy Hour
Brooklyn Village
This gathering is an opportunity for funders, partners, and friends of the ReFED Catalytic Grant Fund to meet one another, reconnect, and hear updates on the progress being made to accelerate food waste solutions. Over drinks and light bites, we’ll bring together leaders across philanthropy, innovation, and the food system to share what we’re seeing in the field and strengthen the relationships that help move this work forward. Whether you’ve been closely involved with the Catalytic Grant Fund or are just getting to know the community, we hope you’ll join us for an evening of conversation, connection, and shared momentum.
Please email [email protected] for more information
Welcome Reception/10-Year Anniversary Kick-Off
Grand Ballroom/Grant Promenade
Breakfast
Grand Promenade
Funder Idea Exchange
Trade
Co-hosted by Sustainable Agriculture and Food Systems Funders (SAFSF) and ReFED, this invite-only session will highlight high-impact funding opportunities and foster candid peer discussion. Funders interested in attending can contact ReFED's Sharyn Murray ([email protected]) to request an invitation.
“Progress in Action: Scaling Solutions to Food Waste”
Mainstage
Grand Ballroom
Ten years ago, ReFED’s Roadmap to Reduce U.S. Food Waste set an ambitious vision for transforming the way America produces, manages, and thinks about food waste. Since then, the field has continued to grow, solutions have scaled, and momentum has built in ways both measurable and inspiring. But with urgency still high and much work remaining, this opening session is as much about what comes next as it is about how far we’ve come. Our emcee Chef Joel Gamoran and ReFED’s Sara Burnett will kick off our programming by welcoming you to Charlotte. ReFED President Dana Gunders will set the stage with a look at the field’s most meaningful accomplishments from the past year—including the reveal of a brand new video featuring voices from around the country highlighting their work—as well as the bright spots on the horizon in the year ahead. And the session will also feature a unique “kitchen table” discussion about the new landscape of food as a result of policy and other macro cultural influences, featuring Michiel Bakker of the Culinary Institute of America, Emily Broad Lieb from the Harvard Law School Food Law and Policy Clinic, and chef Michel Nischan, and moderated by Kim Severson of the New York Times.
Speakers
Michiel Bakker | Culinary Institute of America
Emily Broad Leib | Harvard Law School Food Law and Policy Clinic
Networking Break
Grand Promenade
Featuring a special fruit smoothie from the Shared Table cookbook sponsored by Chick-Fil-A.
“From the Ranch to the Table: A Deep Dive into Beef”
Breakout
Providence Ballroom I
Beef is one of the most widely consumed yet resource-intensive proteins in the American diet—which means waste at any point in the supply chain carries an outsized economic and environmental cost. Yet the full picture of where and how beef is wasted remains surprisingly incomplete. From pasture and processing to retail cases and dinner plates, critical blind spots persist that limit our ability to act with precision and purpose. This session will unite both the research and the practice, examining where data is strong, where gaps persist, and how to close them, with tools like mass-based measurement, traceability systems, and supply chain feedback loops that can drive smarter decisions and meaningful reductions.
Speakers
“Feeding Many, Wasting Less: Food Waste Solutions for Institutional Foodservice”
Breakout
Providence Ballroom II
Schools, hospitals, universities, and correctional facilities all share something important—they serve enormous volumes of food every day under unique operational constraints that restaurants and households simply don't face. From overproduction and rigid menu cycles to unpredictable attendance and limited staff capacity, institutional foodservice settings generate a distinct set of front- and back-of-house food waste challenges that demand targeted, setting-specific solutions. This session takes a practical look at what's actually working across the institutional landscape. Panelists will explore how wins in one type of institution can serve as a replicable model for others, and what it takes to build the internal will and operational infrastructure to make lasting change at scale.
Speakers
Megan Holler | Toward Zero Waste
Joe Richardson | Lunch Out of Landfills
“Cutting Through the Clutter: Crafting Consumer Messages That Drive Impact”
Breakout
Providence Ballroom III
Not surprisingly, consumers are at the center of the food waste challenge—yet most aren't wasting food out of carelessness but rather because they don't know how to manage it properly. That information is out there, but in a world overflowing with competing messages, getting it to land is a challenge unto itself. This session features consumer messaging practitioners working across retail, university extension, and municipal settings sharing what worked, what didn't, and what they learned about meeting consumers where they are—from the language and visuals that resonate, to the channels and moments that are most ripe for influence.
Speakers
Jennifer Bryan-Goforth | Washington State University
Kelly Killian | Building Impact Through Eaters
Savannah Murray | South Carolina Department of Environmental Services
“Making Measurement Matter: From Compliance Pressures to Operational Impacts”
Breakout
Uptown I & II
For many organizations, building a reliable food waste tracking system is time-consuming, technically complex, and difficult to sustain—which makes it all the more important to understand what you get out of it. When it’s done right, the answer is a lot: actionable data that drives operational improvements, stronger ESG and sustainability disclosures, and a foundation for navigating a regulatory environment that is becoming more demanding by the year. This session helps attendees cut through the noise: understanding what regulatory requirements are actually on the horizon, how the evolving GHG Protocol methodology relates to food waste accounting, and how to build measurement models that serve multiple outcomes at once—so that the effort of tracking waste pays dividends well beyond the compliance checkbox.
Speakers
"The Packaging Paradox: An Open Dialogue on Packaging's Role in Food Waste"
Breakout
Uptown III
Packaging is one of the most powerful—and paradoxical—tools in the fight against food waste. Done well, it extends shelf life, protects against damage, enables portion control, and communicates critical information to consumers. Done poorly, it forces unnecessary bulk purchases, fails to protect its contents, and creates additional headaches for food recovery and recycling efforts. Our featured speakers will discuss how they are navigating the thorny issue of packaging, but we want to hear from you, too. Come ready to listen, share, and shape the dialogue around one of the food system's most complex and consequential design challenges.
Speakers
Rebecca Chesney | ISS Guckenheimer
Lunch
Grand Promenade
"Yet We Rise" Luncheon
Brooklyn Village
Co-hosted by Black Women in Food, our annual “Yet We Rise” luncheon offers a unique opportunity to celebrate the broad spectrum of backgrounds and influences that make our food system—and those working in food waste—so dynamic. Come share a table with us!
Catalytic Grant Fund Strategy Workshop
Tryon
This interactive working session will bring together capital providers, practitioners, and subject matter experts to preview ReFED’s plans to evolve the Catalytic Grant Fund's strategy and operating model based on 4+ years of distributing grant funding and to engage in discussion. Attendee insights will help ensure the Catalytic Grant Fund reflects on-the-ground realities and the type of support most needed to scale high-impact solutions.
Please email [email protected] for more information.
"The Full Footprint: The Real Climate Cost of Food Waste and How to Talk About It"
Breakout
Providence Ballroom I
Food waste is a climate problem—but not just in the ways most people think. Its full environmental toll touches some of the most potent forces driving climate change. Methane and nitrous oxide, both superpollutants with warming potential far exceeding that of CO2, are released throughout the food waste lifecycle. Refrigerants used across the cold chain rank among the most harmful greenhouse gases on the planet. Synthetic fertilizers used to grow food that is never eaten carry their own enormous emissions footprint. And that's before accounting for the staggering volumes of water embedded in discarded food, or the social cost of carbon—a measure of the true economic harm of emissions. This session is designed to give attendees both the scientific grounding to understand these impacts and the messaging tools to communicate them in ways that are honest, accessible, and built to bring more people to the table.
Speakers
"GLP-1s, Snacking, and Inflation: How Customizable Portions Can Win Customers and Cut Waste"
Providence Ballroom II
Diners are sending a clear signal to the restaurant and foodservice industry—they want more control over how much they order, and they're choosing where to eat based on who gives it to them. Flexible, customizable portion options aren't just a food waste strategy; they're a competitive advantage. This session uses new research on customizable portions as a springboard for a practical, wide-ranging conversation about what right-sizing looks like when it moves from concept to menu. Featuring case studies from restaurants and foodservice operators, panelists will share how reimagined portion offerings better align with what diners actually want.
Speakers
Abby Fammartino | Menus of Change University Research Collaborative
"Depackaging at a Crossroads: Promise, Risk, and the Path Forward"
Breakout
Providence Ballroom III
Depackaging is a fast growing part of the organics recycling infrastructure, helping to quickly and conveniently divert food waste from landfill. But as the technology adoption scales, so do the questions. What do we actually know about how depackaging impacts compost quality, digestate, and microplastics contamination? Where is the data still lacking? And how should policymakers and practitioners respond in the absence of clear standards? This session creates space for a candid conversation across perspectives—from regulators to environmental advocates to organics recyclers on the ground. Together, panelists will explore what must be true for depackaging to play a responsible role in organics diversion, what guardrails may be needed, and how the industry can move forward without compromising long-term system integrity.
Speakers
Yvette Cabrera | Natural Resources Defense Council
"Rescue Reimagined: The New Face of Food Recovery"
Breakout
Uptown I & II
Food rescue has long been a proven solution for diverting surplus food from becoming waste. Over the past decade, food rescue organizations have continued to innovate and iterate to better meet the needs of both donors and recipient communities—while also navigating ongoing challenges like fundraising constraints, limited capacity, and the high perishability of donated food. In this session, we’ll talk to solution providers who are shaping the new food rescue landscape and strengthening food rescue efforts through more optimized logistics, deeper donor partnerships, and cross-sector collaboration designed to improve efficiency, reliability, and impact.
Speakers
Eliza Blank | The Farmlink Project
“Learning from Nature: Biomimicry as a Blueprint for Food Waste Prevention”
Breakout
Uptown III
Nature produces no waste—every output becomes another organism's input, and every system is optimized for efficiency over millions of years of evolution. So what happens when food innovators start learning from the living world? This session explores how designers, scientists, and entrepreneurs are applying the principles of biomimicry to reimagine food waste reduction and using nature-inspired design to yield breakthroughs that mirror natural ecosystems. Attendees will come away with a fresh perspective on how looking outward—to forests, oceans, and even the microscopic world—may hold the most elegant answers to one of our most urgent food system challenges.
Speakers
Meetings & Networking
Grand Promenade
Investor Roundtable on What It Will Take to Scale Organics Infrastructure
Independence
Co-hosted by ReFED and BioCycle, this session brings together capital providers for a candid, small-group discussion on what it will take to scale composting infrastructure in the U.S. at a time when regulatory mandates and climate pressures are accelerating the need for organics diversion solutions. Rather than presentations, the focus is on listening to investors, including the types of deals they seek, how they assess opportunities, and where current projects fall short. As interest in the space grows, so does the need for investable models that can meet this moment. Insights from this discussion will directly inform efforts to better align the needs of operators and capital providers and help ensure capital is effectively deployed to scale composting infrastructure.
If you're interested in joining, please email Angel Veza at [email protected].
Regional Discussion Tables
Grand Ballroom
Connect and collaborate with other attendees from your region! In this no-host networking session, we invite you to find a table labeled with your region and get to know other “locals” fighting food waste in your community!
Recharge with Denali
Harris
ReFED Wildcard Speed Mentoring
Providence Ballroom III
Want to learn from sustainability and food waste veterans who’ve shaped the movement and weathered its ups and downs? Join our fast-paced, round-robin mentoring session to connect directly with seasoned leaders. Ask anything, gain actionable insights, and leave with fresh ideas and connections to accelerate your career and impact.
Pre-registration is required by emailing [email protected].
Please note: This is not a job-matching forum or a general networking session.
“The Big Picture: Megatrends Shaping the Future of Food Waste”
Mainstage
Grand Ballroom
Food waste isn’t a single problem with a single solution—it’s a complex, interconnected challenge shaped by forces that cut across every sector, setting, and stakeholder. This session zooms out to examine the sweeping trends that are redefining what’s possible in the fight against food waste, and how leaders across the field can harness them to accelerate impact. Artificial intelligence is transforming everything from demand forecasting to inventory management and supply chain visibility—but realizing its potential while navigating its risks requires intentionality. And social media platforms like TikTok—now so embedded in daily life that many can barely imagine a world without it—are emerging as a powerful force for driving awareness, shifting norms, and inspiring action at scale. We’ll bring these threads together in a dynamic conversation about where the biggest opportunities lie—and how the food waste field can ride these megatrends rather than be left behind by them.
And we’ll close out the session by welcoming Andrew Zimmern to the stage for a special culinary demonstration!
Speakers
Gurbir Perhar | Compass Group North America
Happy Hour Reception
Grand Promenade
After the day's programming, mix and mingle with colleagues and friends old and new. It's a great way to unwind after a jam-packed day and to decide where the evening will take you. And as part of the reception, Andrew Zimmern will be signing copies of The Blue Food Cookbook. Pre-order a copy through our partner, Park Road Books, here: https://parkroadbooks.com/list/andrew-zimmern-refed-food-waste-solutions-summit. By ordering now, you will have a guaranteed copy waiting for you. (Books will also be available for purchase onsite; limited quantity available.)
Breakfast
Grand Promenade
National Food Recovery Association Meet and Greet Breakfast
Independence
Join the National Food Recovery Association (NFRA) for breakfast! Our mission is to advance the edible food recovery industry through collaborative, solution-focused initiatives that identify and support best practices across the field. This breakfast is a great opportunity to connect with fellow food recovery organizations, hear about our upcoming programming, and explore ways to get involved. Grab a plate and join us for a morning of networking, learning, and shared purpose.
This opportunity is open for all and does not require pre-registration.
"From Scraps to Shelf: Building a Circular Food System at Commercial Scale"
Trade
Commercial enterprises are the second largest source of food waste in the U.S., and closing that gap requires more than good intentions. It requires the best technology, operational expertise, and the right partnerships. Join Mill and Whole Foods Market for breakfast as they pull back the curtain on plans to deploy advanced food recycling technology nationwide—what it takes, what they've learned so far, and what's next. Then, join the conversation and help inform an existing retail collaboration aimed at increasing the amount of waste to animal feed. The task force needs input from the experts in the room to define priorities and drive real progress. Come for the inspiration, stay for the problem-solving—this is your chance to see what's possible and help shape what's next.
Speakers: Harry Tannenbaum (Mill), Will Berman (Mill), Cameron Crake (Whole Foods Market), Adam Newsome (Whole Foods Market), Kaity Robbins (Whole Foods Market)
“Home Grown: How Place, Culture, and Policy Are Shaping the Future of Food Waste in North Carolina—and Beyond”
Mainstage
Grand Ballroom
Welcome to North Carolina, a state with a food story that is richer, more complex, and instructive than most. This session uses North Carolina as a lens through which to examine food waste from angles that rarely share the same stage: we’ll share research on household food waste patterns across the state; shine a spotlight on Black farmers and cultural foodways and the role of heritage and community food traditions in shaping the broader food system; and host a conversation about how new policies ripple through food culture—and how food culture, in turn, shapes what becomes politically possible. From farm to kitchen to community table, North Carolina offers a vivid illustration of how place-based knowledge, cultural identity, and policy momentum can reinforce or undermine one another—and how you can move the needle when you take the whole picture into account.
Also during this mainstage session, we’ll introduce a panel of founders/CEOs to the stage who will share candid reflections on what it took to grow their solutions from early-stage ideas into mainstream impact—offering hard-won lessons on how innovation and investment align for success.
Speakers
Alice Ammerman | University of North Carolina
Regina Harmon | Food Recovery Network
Ida Posner | Hawthorne Food Ventures
Norbert Wilson | Duke World Food Policy Center
Christine Wittmeier | North Carolina Department of Environmental Quality
Networking Break
Grand Promenade
"Global Gains: International Food Waste Reduction and What We Can Learn"
Breakout
Providence Ballroom I
Food waste is a shared global challenge—and around the world, innovative coalitions of governments, businesses, and communities are making measurable progress through bold commitments and coordinated action. This session takes a tour of the international landscape, spotlighting initiatives that are moving the needle and the frameworks driving their success.
Speakers
McKenzie Campbell | International Community Foundation
Claudia Sánchez Castro | Mexican FoodBanking Network
Gabriela Galindo | Alianza para la Sguridad Alimentaria
Alcione Pereira | Connecting Food
Roberto Rodriguez | Roadrunner Food Bank of New Mexico
“Crowd Control: Smarter Food Waste Strategies for High-Volume Events”
Breakout
Providence Ballroom II
From corporate conferences and conventions to large sporting events and concerts, events are among the most prolific—and most overlooked—generators of food waste. The combination of high-volume catering, cultural pressure to ensure tables are overflowing, and the push to craft memorable experiences creates a perfect storm of overproduction and excess. Yet these settings also present a uniquely concentrated opportunity: when meeting planners, venues, and the cities they operate in commit to doing things differently, the impact can demonstrate that sustainability and hospitality are anything but mutually exclusive. This session brings together practitioners across the events and hospitality industry to share the strategies, tools, and mindset shifts that are making a measurable difference—and how they can serve as best practices that inform other food waste situations.
Speakers
Christy Cook | InvestHER Strategies
“Think You Know Waste? Think Again: New Frontiers in Food Waste Innovation”
Breakout
Providence Ballroom III
The frontier of food waste innovation is bolder and more promising than most people realize. But what does it take to turn innovation into real-world impact? Meet solution providers who have secured early funding, launched pilots, and proven their concepts in the market. They’ll pull back the curtain to reveal how they built early traction, the challenges they’re facing on the path to scale, and what it will take to unlock their next phase of growth.
Speakers
Seth Crawford | Fieldwork Robotics
Dylan Lew | Ecotone Renewables
“The Art of the Possible: State and Local Policy Success Stories”
Breakout
Uptown I & II
Policy is one of the most powerful levers for driving systemic change. But the path from a compelling idea to enacted legislation is rarely straight—it requires coalition building, strategic timing, political savvy, and no small amount of persistence. This session skips the theory and gets into the details. Through three in-depth case studies drawn from successful state and local policy initiatives, panelists will walk attendees through the real story of how change happened—who the key players were, how opposition was navigated, what compromises were made, and what made the difference in the end. Whether you're a seasoned policy advocate or new to the legislative arena, this session offers a rare, unfiltered look at the art and science of moving food waste policy from concept to reality.
Speakers
Kelsie DeFrancia | City and County of Denver’s Office of Climate Action, Sustainability & Resiliency
John Fischer | Massachusetts Department of Environmental Protection
"The Missing Piece: Building the Data Foundation for Food Waste Solutions in Manufacturing"
Breakout
Uptown III
Manufacturing is one of the largest blind spots in food waste research—poorly understood and quantified, yet responsible for substantial losses and cascading effects across the supply chain. But that's changing. Over the past year, LIDD partnered with ReFED on a first-of-its-kind research effort to quantify and characterize food waste across diverse manufacturing settings and food types—findings that will power critical updates to ReFED's Insights Engine and its ongoing analyses. This session's panelists will explore what that data reveals: which solutions are most promising in manufacturing and what it takes to act on them. Speakers will zero in on two high-opportunity approaches—modified atmosphere packaging (MAP) and upcycling—examining their potential to prevent and divert significant volumes of waste while generating benefits that ripple across the supply chain. The session will be a case study in what's possible when rigorous research and cross-sector collaboration point the way toward solutions that are actionable and built to scale.
Speakers
Networking Break
Grand Promenade
“A Decade of Impact: Celebrating Success and Charting the Path Forward”
Mainstage
Grand Ballroom
Three days of bold ideas, candid conversations, and cross-sector connections—and here’s where we bring it all together. This closing session reunites some of the original architects of ReFED's first Roadmap to reflect on the journey from vision to impact and to share what they believe the next chapter must look like if we are to meet the scale of the challenge ahead. But this isn't just a look back. Drawing on the themes, tensions, and breakthroughs surfaced throughout the Summit, our closing panel will help attendees synthesize what they've heard and turn inspiration into intention and ultimately action. Through an interactive discussion designed to spark reflection and action, every person in the room will leave with concrete next steps—and a renewed sense of the collective momentum behind this work. This session is a reminder of how far we've come—and a challenge to make the next ten years count even more.
Speakers
Lunch (with To-Go Option)
Grand Promenade
Invite-Only Workshop: "Consumer Engagement on Food Waste for Businesses"
Harris
We'll be discussing best practices, measurement, and action planning for how consumer-facing businesses (and their supporting stakeholders) can support food waste reduction among consumers.
Intended stakeholders: Retail, Foodservice, Hospitality, Restaurants, and Jurisdiction members
Led by: WRAP, World Resources Institute, and World Wildlife Fund
If you would like to request an invite, please reach out to [email protected] for more information.