Save the Food Austin works to divert food from landfills to pantries in need

AUSTIN, Texas - A local organization is working to divert food that would typically go to a landfill or compost, instead sending it to pantries for those in need.

Save the Food Austin delivers 7,000 pounds of food every week, and they plan to keep growing. 

Allen Schroeder started Save the Food Austin a year and a half ago to redirect food from the trash to someone's kitchen table.

Every morning he and his volunteers go to different grocery stores and food delivery retailers. They take hundreds of pounds of food and either put them in freezers or deliver it to city neighborhood center where people with lower incomes can get fresh food.

Schroeder says he started at diverting 3,000 pounds of food each week. He's now up to 11,000. 

He advises people to take a look inside their own fridge. He also plans on presenting what he's doing to other grocery stores in town and hopes to expand soon.