You might have seen Devin Hardy in the April 24th issue of The New York Times, her photo featured in the Food section in an article about how the US production of a new beer is fighting food waste. Or you might have caught glimpses of her at the Tribeca Film Festival the third weekend in April, as Anthony Bourdain’s new documentary, Wasted! The Story of Food Waste, premiered to a crowd that enjoyed a taste of the very first batch of this beer Devin has helped to brew. If not, you’re sure to hear more about Devin and her partner, Madi, as they launch Toast Ale USA, a beer brewed with surplus bread that would be otherwise bound for landfills. 100% of Toast Ale USA’s profits will go to charities fighting food waste—they hope to make a splash and garner some real attention for food waste solutions, one brew at a time.
While living at Banyan Studios—a community center loft space in Williamsburg, Brooklyn—Devin met Madi Holtzman, a like-minded food enthusiast and activist devoted to finding solutions to the world’s food waste problems. With a shared commitment to making a difference, it didn’t take long for them to form a non-profit and formulate a plan to use some of the mass volumes of food being wasted at the manufacturing and distribution level.