NCDEQ Food Donation

This website from the NC Department of Environmental Quality provides information about food donation for farmers and market managers who are interested in decreasing food waste by donating market leftovers. 2024.

Use the Food NC for Consumers

This NCDEQ website provides tips for reducing food waste at the consumer level, which could be helpful educational information to distribute at markets. 2024.

Legal Fact Sheet for North Carolina Food Donation: Tax Incentives for Businesses

From the NCDEQ, this fact sheet walks readers through the basics of federal tax deductions for businesses that donate food. 2017.

Good Samaritan Act

The Bill Emerson Good Samaritan Food Donation Act of 1996 protects people making good-faith donations of food in their community from some legal implications. 2020.

The World's Plastic Pollution Crisis Explained

This brief article from National Geographic walks readers through the devastating environmental impacts of plastic. 2023.

Plastic Has a Big Carbon Footprint - But That Isn't the Whole Story

From NPR, this article takes a nuanced look at the issues surrounding plastic. The author notes that although plastic production releases extreme amounts of carbon into the atmosphere, worsening the climate crisis, plastic can sometimes be the better packaging option. 2019.

Plastic Bag Bans in the US Reduced Plastic Bag Use by Billions, Study Finds

This article from the World Economic Forum demonstrates the important impact that plastic bag bans can have on reducing plastic pollution. The article also discusses the unsustainable alternatives that should be avoided.

NC Budget Provision Targets Local Efforts to Ban Plastic Bags

This brief article from NC public radio station WUNC explains how the NC General Assembly’s 2023 provision prohibiting plastic bag bans is detrimental to environmental protection efforts. 2023.

NCGA Current Operations Appropriation Act of 2023

This act from the NC General Assembly prohibits counties and cities from adopting any sort of restrictions (including bans, fees, and other regulations) on the use of “auxiliary containers,” including single-use plastics. However, counties and cities are allowed to regulate the use of auxiliary containers on property owned or maintained by the county or city. 2023.

• According to the NCDEQ, markets are not allowed to ban plastic bags but can encourage vendors to stop supplying them and consumers to stop bringing them.

Farmers Markets and Single-Use Plastic

This short academic paper from the Journal of Extension discusses the struggles of reducing single-use plastics at farmers markets. Findings convey that simply providing shoppers with reusable bags is not enough to significantly reduce single-use plastic bags at markets. Instead, the authors suggest that the best ways to reduce single-use plastics at farmers markets are to implement financial or policy initiatives and focus on education and outreach. 2021.