More than 500 pounds of salads and entrees have been rescued from the compost bins at Aspen Ideas Festival to feed people in need.
A pilot program rescues food from buffet tables and gives it to organizations like the Aspen Homeless Shelter and Stepping Stones in Carbondale.
Jason Maceachen is catering director at the Aspen Meadows, which provides all the food for the festival. He says they’re donating fresh, untouched leftovers.
"We are not providing food that has been left on the buffet for a significant amount of time, that has not been refrigerated, that is not wrapped and safe for a donation," said Maceachen
Maceachen’s team makes sure the food is safely packaged and temperature controlled. Then, volunteers pick it up and take it to City Market where it’s stored in big refrigerators until it can be delivered to its final destination.
Ciara Low with the Safe and Abundant Nutrition Alliance, or SANA, redistributes the food. She says the new program has fed about 40 people each day since the festival’s start.