In this special episode of People Places Planet, host Dara Albrecht and ELI Senior Attorney Linda Breggin take us to Nashville for Food Waste Prevention Week, where local leaders across sectors are driving innovative efforts to reduce food waste. With nearly one-third of U.S. food going uneaten each year—impacting the environment, economy, and communities—this conversation showcases how one city is tackling the challenge head-on.
Linda speaks with four inspiring guests whose work spans K-12 education, higher ed, hospitality, and professional sports:
- Todd Lawrence (04:28), Executive Director of Urban Green Lab, explains how training teachers and conducting school cafeteria waste audits are empowering the next generation to take action.
- David ter Kuile (18:32), Associate Vice Chancellor at Vanderbilt University, walks us through how campus dining hit its zero waste goals through composting, waste tracking, and student engagement.
- Tyler Lee (34:44), Executive Chef at 1 Hotel Nashville, shares how local sourcing, zero-waste cocktails, and creative kitchen strategies are changing the hospitality landscape.
- Haley Davidson (49:48), Chief of Staff for the Tennessee Titans, describes how Nashville’s NFL team is designing a new LEED Gold stadium with food waste reduction in mind—and how it’s already making a difference at Nissan Stadium.
From teaching tools to technology to teamwork, this episode explores scalable strategies for reducing food waste and building more resilient communities. Whether you're in a school, university, restaurant, or stadium, there's something here for everyone.
Related Links:
- ELI's Center for State and Local Governance, Food Waste Initiative
- Urban Green Lab resources on food waste reduction
- Food Waste Warrior Audit
- James Beard Foundation and Nashville Food Waste Initiative Food Scrap Cooking Demonstration
- Waste Not Cooking Competition
Popular Podcasts
New Heights with Jason & Travis Kelce
Football’s funniest family duo — Jason Kelce of the Philadelphia Eagles and Travis Kelce of the Kansas City Chiefs — team up to provide next-level access to life in the league as it unfolds. The two brothers and Super Bowl champions drop weekly insights about the weekly slate of games and share their INSIDE perspectives on trending NFL news and sports headlines. They also endlessly rag on each other as brothers do, chat the latest in pop culture and welcome some very popular and well-known friends to chat with them. Check out new episodes every Wednesday. Follow New Heights on the Wondery App, YouTube or wherever you get your podcasts. You can listen to new episodes early and ad-free, and get exclusive content on Wondery+. Join Wondery+ in the Wondery App, Apple Podcasts or Spotify. And join our new membership for a unique fan experience by going to the New Heights YouTube channel now!
Dateline NBC
Current and classic episodes, featuring compelling true-crime mysteries, powerful documentaries and in-depth investigations. Follow now to get the latest episodes of Dateline NBC completely free, or subscribe to Dateline Premium for ad-free listening and exclusive bonus content: DatelinePremium.com
On Purpose with Jay Shetty
I’m Jay Shetty host of On Purpose the worlds #1 Mental Health podcast and I’m so grateful you found us. I started this podcast 5 years ago to invite you into conversations and workshops that are designed to help make you happier, healthier and more healed. I believe that when you (yes you) feel seen, heard and understood you’re able to deal with relationship struggles, work challenges and life’s ups and downs with more ease and grace. I interview experts, celebrities, thought leaders and athletes so that we can grow our mindset, build better habits and uncover a side of them we’ve never seen before. New episodes every Monday and Friday. Your support means the world to me and I don’t take it for granted — click the follow button and leave a review to help us spread the love with On Purpose. I can’t wait for you to listen to your first or 500th episode!