Top 10 Food Waste Management Companies in the U.S. Making a Sustainable Impact 

The United States wastes up to 40% of all food produced annually—that’s 60 million tons ending up in landfills while 44 million Americans face food insecurity.

What’s driving this inefficiency? A food system designed for abundance without accountability. But companies across the supply chain are changing that equation, turning waste streams into revenue streams.

From AI that tracks kitchen scraps to billion-dollar renewable energy facilities, these ten companies represent different approaches to the same problem: making food waste profitable to prevent.

How We Selected These Companies

The companies featured here span different stages of the food waste ecosystem. Our selection reflects this diversity:

1. Supply Chain Coverage: Companies addressing waste at different points—farms, kitchens, retail, households. Because food waste happens everywhere, solutions need to be everywhere.
2. Business Model Innovation: Whether through technology platforms, physical infrastructure, or service models that make waste reduction economically attractive. If it’s not profitable or convenient, it won’t scale.
3. Measurable Impact: Demonstrated results in pounds diverted, emissions reduced, or meals recovered. We prioritized companies with trackable outcomes over promising concepts.
4. Market Approach: Mix of B2B, B2C, and nonprofit models serving different stakeholders. Because restaurants, farmers, and households all waste food differently—and need different solutions.

10 Food Waste Companies Making an Impact

Based on these criteria, we’ve compiled a list of ten food waste companies making the most significant impact across the United States. Each of them represents a different approach to the challenge, from industrial-scale processing facilities to consumer-facing apps that rescue surplus meals.

1. Skip Shapiro Enterprises

When major food brands need to manage waste responsibly, they turn to Skip Shapiro Enterprises. Founded in 2007, this America’s leading food waste company has been instrumental in diverting organic waste from landfills, transforming it into compost, animal feed, or renewable energy.

What Sets Them Apart:

1. Over 200 partner facilities across the U.S. ensuring efficient waste management solutions
2. Comprehensive services covering unsaleable finished products, liquid waste, supermarket waste, agricultural streams, and byproduct waste
3. Dedicated to 100% landfill diversion/recycling and beneficial reuse
4. Key partner in the Linden Renewable Energy Project—the nation’s largest food waste-to-renewable natural gas facility

Sustainable Impact:

The $440 million Linden project will process 1,475 tons of organic waste daily, with Shapiro supplying up to 300 tons. Their network helps businesses reduce landfill waste while supporting renewable energy production nationwide.

2. Divert, Inc.

With 17 years of experience, Divert converts unsold food into renewable energy while supporting 7,500 customer locations across all 50 states through advanced anaerobic digestion technology.

What Sets Them Apart:

• Processed 630+ million pounds of food waste in 2024 (52% increase year-over-year)
• Facilitated donations of 15.7 million pounds of food since 2018
• Advanced waste-to-energy technology

Sustainable Impact:

Each Divert facility equals taking 5,000 cars off the road annually, offsetting 23,000 metric tons of greenhouse gas emissions while creating sustainable revenue streams for businesses.

3. Too Good To Go

Too Good To Go operates the world’s largest marketplace for surplus food, with more than 100 million registered users and 175,000 active business partners across 19 countries in Europe and North America. The app launched in the U.S. in 2020.

What Sets Them Apart:

• Saved 22 million meals in the U.S. alone
• Nationwide Whole Foods partnership across 450+ locations
• “Surprise Bags” at one-third original price

Sustainable Impact:

Globally saved 400+ million meals, equivalent to 1.1M tonnes of CO2e avoided, turning everyday purchases into sustainability actions.

4. Vanguard Renewables

Vanguard Renewables specializes in recycling food and beverage waste into renewable energy through anaerobic digestion. Their recent facility at Dinnerbell Farms in Eden, Wisconsin, exemplifies their commitment to advancing circular economy practices.

What Sets Them Apart:

• TotalEnergies partnership for 10+ renewable gas facilities
• Farm-integrated anaerobic digestion systems
• 75 gigawatt-hours of energy per facility annually

Sustainable Impact

Their Oakmulgee Dairy Farm project produces 259K MMBtu/year of renewable gas while diverting 105K tons of food waste from landfills annually.

5. Replate

Replate is a tech-enabled nonprofit that facilitates the donation of surplus food from businesses to nonprofits serving food-insecure communities. Their platform ensures compliance with food donation regulations and optimizes food rescue operations.

What Sets Them Apart:

• Technology-driven platform streamlining food redistribution
• Focus on compliance with food donation regulations
• Direct connection between businesses and nonprofits
• Optimization of food rescue operations through data and logistics

Sustainable Impact

Replate exemplifies how technology can streamline food redistribution, reducing waste and addressing hunger simultaneously. Their platform addresses both environmental concerns and food insecurity through innovative logistics solutions.

6. Misfits Market

Misfits Market delivers imperfect or surplus produce directly to consumers at discounted prices, challenging cosmetic food standards.

What Sets Them Apart:

• Each order saves 5 pounds of food on average
• Direct-to-consumer imperfect produce delivery
• Challenges retail beauty standards

Sustainable Impact

Every order conserves 196 gallons of water and prevents 7 pounds of CO2e emissions, proving imperfect produce can find profitable markets.

7. Full Harvest

Full Harvest operates a B2B marketplace that digitizes the produce supply chain to reduce on-farm food waste by helping producers sell surplus or imperfect crops directly to food companies.

What Sets Them Apart:

• Advanced matching algorithm reducing rejection rates from 10% to 1-2%
• Surpassed 50 million pounds of sustainable produce sold
• Partnership with major food companies like Danone North America

Sustainable Impact:

Addresses the estimated 20 billion pounds of produce wasted annually in the U.S. due to cosmetic standards, helping farmers monetize surplus while providing food companies with sustainable ingredients.

8. Winnow

Winnow’s AI-powered tools help commercial kitchens automatically track and reduce food waste, serving thousands of chefs in 90+ countries.

What Sets Them Apart:

• Automatic AI waste capture without manual input
• 40-70% waste reduction in 6-12 months
• Serves 1,400+ businesses globally

Sustainable Impact

Saves $42+ million in food costs annually, equivalent to 36 million meals and 61,000 tons of CO2 emissions prevented.

9. Imperfect Foods

Imperfect Foods is a grocery delivery service that sources and sells “imperfect” or surplus produce and pantry items.

What Sets Them Apart:

• Rescued 172.5 million pounds of food
• Net-zero carbon commitment by 2030
• Comprehensive imperfect grocery delivery

Sustainable Impact:

Average customers save three months’ worth of food annually, proving sustainable grocery delivery can be economically viable.

10. Rheaply

Rheaply is a resource exchange platform that enables organizations to share and repurpose surplus assets, promoting a circular economy. Their platform helps reduce waste by connecting departments and organizations to redistribute resources effectively.

What Sets Them Apart:

• Inter-organizational resource-sharing platform
• Circular economy focus
• Cross-sector waste reduction

Sustainable Impact

Demonstrates how collaboration between organizations can significantly reduce waste across multiple sectors, extending sustainability beyond food.

The Future is Here—And It’s Sustainable

These companies prove environmental solutions can scale when they solve real business problems. Food waste generates more greenhouse gases than most countries—but it doesn’t have to. When waste becomes renewable energy, when surplus food feeds communities, when AI prevents overproduction, the environmental math changes fast.

The momentum is building because the infrastructure works. But here’s what matters most: replication speed. Because 60 million tons of annual food waste won’t solve itself. The companies that expand these models fastest will drive the biggest environmental impact. And that expansion is already happening.