Our Work

The work of Borderlands Produce Rescue can be summarized in three categories, rescue, redistribute, and recycle. Each year Borderlands Produce Rescue will save 30 million pounds of produce from being sent to the landfill. The produce we rescue is then made available to supporters through one of our four program areas.

Rescue

For 28 years, Borderlands Produce Rescue has educated the produce industry that it does not have the right to dump good, nutritious produce in landfills. We host regular meetings and events with produce industry leaders as a way of educating them about alternatives to dumping produce. In our 28 years of operations we have met with and educated over 4,000 produce distributors and donors. We let the produce industry know, instead of dumping good produce, simply call Borderlands Produce Rescue and we will find a different option which will be better for the world we live in.

Our programs are designed in such a way that each individual person, by participating, is doing their part to help curb food waste and create a cleaner planet.

Redistribute

Through our programming we create opportunities for individuals, and agencies, to assist in curbing food waste by taking home our rescued produce for use in their own programs. In our 28 years of rescuing produce, we have supplemented 273 million meals with a healthy side of fruits and vegetables.

Through our Veggies R’ Us program we allow supporters in Santa Cruz County to pick-up produce directly from our warehouse. Our Borderlands’ Produce On Wheels With-Out Waste program (Borderlands’ P.O.W.W.O.W.) takes our rescued produce all across Arizona for weekly redistribution to consumers. Food serving organizations in 23 other states take part in our programs by adopting our rescued produce as a Borderlands’ Produce Travels partner.

Recycle

Our mission is not simply to ensure people are able to eat nutritiously, another focus is to reduce the harm to the environment. When we rescue produce we do so with the goal of finding alternative uses for the donated produce. Since 1996 we have rescued 750 million pounds of produce, and we have prevented over 56 million lbs of methane gasses from entering our atmosphere and harming the Earth.

One of our major recycling programs is making rescued produce available for local ranchers, composting groups, and others who can make use of perished produce. When food goes to the landfill the nutrients in the food never return to the soil. The wasted food rots and produces methane gas, which contributes to harmful climate change. The reality is that even perished produce contributes harm to our environment. For this reason the re-homing of produce is critical to our mission. Through our Potpourri for Animals and Composting program (P.A.C.), each year we donate 5 million pounds of rescued produce to ranchers, composters and other people who find responsible ways to use the produce.