Grant Proposal :
Sustainable fridges in New York city
Suggested to : City Harvest
December 1, 2020
Mishael Wahdani
Junior at SUNY New Paltz
Abstract
I`m introducing this project that is going to help to reduce the food waste in the large cities or in the high populated areas in general, the project main goal is to save the amount of food wasted in New York city on a daily basis and also helping the less fortunate people at the same time, this project doesn’t require that much of capital for it to operate, mainly we are going to need a good working fridges that can operate in hot and humid summers and winters alongside paper bags, the idea or concept behind this project is when people buy food from restaurants and food trucks instead of throwing away their food in the bins they can wrap it up and put it inside the fridge therefore people who are in deep need of food can find some in the fridge, when we talk about the city life we are talking about fast paced life so usually people who buy food don’t put that much of a thought about the food they throw away.
Introduction:
One of the main environmental issues that can be found in the city that never sleeps is the high amount of food waste, my main motive that led up to me presenting this project is how harmful food waste is to the climate and to the environment in general, food waste is the food that ended up not being consumed, definitions for food waste can change due to the fact that certain people do not consider or have generally not thought about food waste to be a waste material, food waste is able to damage the environment in many ways, “Wasted food is a serious economic, environmental, and food security problem. If global food waste were a country, it would be the third largest emitter of greenhouse gases after the United States and China. Americans are throwing out the equivalent of $218 billion of food every year” (Margret Brown), this is a critical subject because it can lead to global warming, food waste produces a dangerous gas called Methane while thrown away in the landfill, this chemical reaction starts when the food gets rotten then it releases the harmful gases, sadly not many people realize that this is a sensitive subject and it can affect the next generations if we don’t start taking actions now before its too late to save the environment.
Goal/Mission:
This project main goal is to save and rescue food that didn’t end up being consumed and to support our struggling communities with about as much surplus of food, “According to a new report by the Robin Hood Foundation, 32% of New Yorkers surveyed said they have food insecurity fears; that’s up from 12% before the pandemic” (According to a new report by the Robin Hood Foundation, 32% of New Yorkers surveyed said they have food insecurity fears; that’s up from 12% before the pandemic.” (Andrew Ramos), with the help from our kind New Yorkers we can put this food to a better use, In the city there can be people who are in need of daily food supplies but it can be hard to reach those who are in need because they might consider it as an insecurity, for instance someone suffering from food deprivation would not know where and when their upcoming meal might come from, sometimes this can reflect the ability of a household to manage bare essentials before adding them to their food budget, such as mortgage, electricity, healthcare, or health insurance, therefore we came up with this idea that would help the people in need not to feel embarrassed or ashamed when they request donations or food, with the help of our team which consists of students from different colleges in New York from different areas we will set up the sustainable fridges in specific spots mainly next to diners and food trucks, with the help of our IT team we were able to launch an App for this project to add a reward system for people who contribute to their society through this project.
Review:
Before we introduced this project, initially we started to study the behavior of people in the city when they purchase food from various places, we realized that not many people are aware of the damage that they are doing to the environment when throwing away the rest of the food away, and we searched for the best coolers for the project and we found out that their price range is between $2000 to $3000, in addition we analyzed and studied the areas which most food waste occurs, we found this project to be challenging at first because we will not be able to cover the whole city, however we don’t know what the future holds for us when we get the acceptance of this grant other cooperation and organizations are more than welcomed to join us in this journey to make New York city a better and sustainable place for the other generations.
Project Description :
The sustainable fridges project procedure requires a lot of promotion at first like any other startup project or business , so the journey will start with spreading words and advertising the project on social media since we all know how much strong influence social media holds, moving forward we would start handing out flyers that give a brief regarding the project, also the flyer includes a QR code so people can have access to the application on their phones also there will be a phone number and a website for people who are interested in volunteering within this project , once we get the word out we will start setting up the fridges/coolers in the chosen spots, in addition there will be 10 teams initially, each team is responsible for one refrigerator that is in the area assigned to the team.
Personnel:
The volunteers will be divided into ten teams and each team is responsible to cover their area we choose this approach so we can cover more ground, therefore we will initially start this project with 10 coolers, in other case we are planning to launch this project near the end of the spring semester so students can take advantage of their free time and contribute to the society with the help from City Harvest ,the personnel will be as follows:
1- City Harvest
Task : providing data and analysis about the areas where food waste occur the most.
2- Team leaders
Task : Leading teams and providing a plan for the team members to imply .
3- Team members
Task: cooperate with the team leader in order to achieve the full goals of this project.
4- IT team
Task : focused on project`s application and the website for the project and responsible with the technology aspects of the project.
Timeline:
Sustainable fridges will go through four main phases as follows:
| Phase | Date | outcome |
| 1 | December 2020 | Submitting Grant proposal. |
| 2 | May 2021 | Promoting “Sustainable fridges”. |
| 3 | June 2021 | Placing fridges in specific spots. |
| 4 | July 2021 | Putting out surveys for feedback. |
Plan for project assessment:
for our project assessment we would compare the numbers of food wasted earlier in the year with the numbers after implementing the project by reaching out to random people and asking them about their feedback regarding the project, and we will also consider to see if we are doing enough advertising or promotion to the project, in addition we will look at the percentage of less fortunate people and see if they are finding what covers their need of food.
Budget:
Display coolers cost per unit : $1,740
numbers required: 10
total display coolers cost = $17,400
Developing an App cost = $5,000
Gift Cards and rewards cost = $10,000
Electricity expenses per year = $50,000
Total Project Budget = $82,400
After all, avoiding surplus food from being thrown away is the most important form of eliminating food waste, that is also extremely crucial at the point of consumption and can have a major effect on how a normal household, as well as supermarkets, retailers, and other restaurants and neighborhoods, can minimize their waste through greater education, since City Harvest is battling the food waste issue since 1982 we found them a very reliable and trustworthy organization because we as students need to contribute to our society, in other case raising awareness is one of our motives behind this project because unfortunately not many people realize how harmful food waste can be to the environment, food waste can damage the environment in many ways, this is a critical subject because it can lead to global warming, food waste produces a dangerous gas called Methane while thrown away in the landfill, this chemical reaction starts when the food gets rotten then it releases the harmful gases.
Work Cited
November 28, 2017 Margaret Brown. “How to Feed Hungry New Yorkers and Fight Climate Change.” NRDC, 15 Aug. 2018, www.nrdc.org/experts/margaret-brown/how-feed-hungry-new-yorkers.
Ramos, Andrew. “New Report Shows More New Yorkers Are Struggling to Get Food on Table.” WPIX, WPIX, 18 Nov. 2020, www.pix11.com/news/local-news/new-report-shows-more-new-yorkers-are-struggling-to-get-food-on-table.