Can Carbon Credits Help Solve Food Waste? Brightly Tests A New Model

Startup Brightly, founded by Andy Levitt, is testing a model that converts rescued food into carbon credits to fund food rescue organizations. It recently received more than 720,000 verified carbon units from Verra covering food rescued between 2020 and 2023. Brightly contracts with Feeding America and other groups to calculate avoided landfill methane, then sells the credits to corporate buyers including PopSockets and HelloFresh. The company says up to 80% of revenue flows back to nonprofits to expand capacity. The project faces policy pressure too: this October, federal reimbursement for most SNAP administrative costs drops from 50% to 25%, with the rest to states. In New York, officials estimate additional annual costs of at least $168 million for counties and New York City. The UN warns food waste can drive up to 10% of global greenhouse gas emissions.