San Dieguito Academy student Gabrielle Posard recently received an Action For Nature 2012 International Young Eco-Hero honorable mention for her work with food recycling, the organization announced.

Gabrielle, 14, started the nonprofit Donate Don’t Dump, which works with grocery stores to give unsold surplus food to food banks instead of throwing it away. Gabrielle’s organization also works to raise public awareness about the realities of food insecurity — a problem that affects 20 percent of the U.S. population, according to an Action For Nature news release.

Gabrielle said in the announcement that her vision is to “create the next generation of recycling by diverting the 96 billion pounds of edible food that becomes waste from landfills and instead (divert it) into hungry people’s pantries.”

Two other local teens are involved in running Donate Don’t Dump, recent Carlsbad High School graduates Camille Posard (Gabrielle’s sister) and Trent Ryan, according to Donate Don’t Dump’s website. The Posard sisters were named to Patch.com’s Top 30 San Diego County leaders under age 30 in October.

The organization has grown to include chapters in 13 high schools, youth groups and colleges around the country. Recently, Albertsons became the first for-profit grocery chain to be Donate Don’t Dump Certified, and it has agreed to display Gabrielle’s logo creation in all its stores in San Diego County.

Since 2003, Action For Nature, a U.S.-based nonprofit, has recognized youths ages 8-16 who are taking important steps to solve environmental challenges. Youths from several countries submit their stories and explain their work. A panel of judges including, experts in environmental science, biology and education, determined the year’s winners.

Donate Don’t Dump can be found on Facebook.