America wastes roughly 40 percent of its food.2 Food waste also has a staggering price tag, costing this country approximately $218 billion per year.3 Uneaten food also puts unneeded strain on the environment by wasting valuable resources like water and farmland. At a time when 12 percent of American households are food insecure 4, reducing food waste by just 15 percent could provide enough sustenance to feed more than 25 million people, annually.7 Food waste includes the half-eaten meal left on the plate at a restaurant, food scraps from preparing a meal at home and the sour milk a family pours down the drain. 8

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Where Is Food Lost?

Edible food is discarded at every point along the food chain: on farms and fishing boats, during processing and distribution, in retail stores, in restaurants and at home. 14 While the government has programs to buy excess produce and donate it to food shelves and emergency relief organizations, the highly specialized processing and transportation networks for many products makes donation difficult and expensive.15 Cosmetic imperfections (leading to so-called “ugly produce”) are another significant source of food waste on farms both before and after harvest, as consumers are less interested in misshaped or blemished items. Food safety scares and improper refrigeration and handling can also force farmers to throw out otherwise edible food. 17

Food Loss on Fishing Boats

A recent study by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) estimates that eight percent of the fish caught in the world’s marine fisheries is discarded — about 78.3 million tons per year. 26 Even with this recovered and reused material taken out of the calculation, about two billion pounds of food are wasted in the food processing or manufacturing stage.27 A number of issues, like overproduction, product damage and technical problems at manufacturing facilities contribute to these large quantities of food waste.28 Much like farms, food processing facilities are vulnerable to labor disruptions and shortages. During the COVID-19 outbreak, many meat processing facilities closed as workers fell ill, which forced processing plants to close. This meant that the animals, which could no longer be processed, were slaughtered and discarded by the thousand.29

Food Loss in Transportation and Distribution Networks

During food transportation and distribution, perishable foods are vulnerable to loss, especially in developing nations where access to adequate and reliable refrigeration, infrastructure and transportation can be a challenge. While this is not a significant source of food waste in the US; food waste does occur when produce spoils from improper refrigeration. 30 A larger problem occurring at this stage is the rejection of perishable food shipments, which are thrown out if another buyer can’t be found quickly. It is estimated that between two and five percent of food shipments are rejected by food buyers. 31 Even if these goods make it to market, they are often wasted anyway because of shorter shelf lives. Often, rejected food shipments are donated to food rescue organizations, but the quantities are too large to accept. 32

Where is Food Wasted?

Food Waste in Retail Businesses

An estimated 43 billion pounds of food were wasted in US retail stores in 2010. 38 Barriers to recovering food are liability concerns, distribution and storage logistics and funds needed for gleaning, collecting, packaging and distribution. The Good Samaritan Food Donation Act, signed into law in 1996, provides legal liability protection for food donors and recipients and tax benefits for participating businesses. However, awareness about this law and trust in the protections it offers remains low. 41 According to the Cornell University Food and Brand Lab, on average, diners leave 17 percent of their meals uneaten and 55 percent of edible leftovers are left at the restaurant. 42 This is partly due to the fact that portion sizes have increased significantly over the past 30 years, often being two to eight times larger than USDA or Federal Drug Administration (FDA) standard servings.

Kitchen culture and staff behavior such as over-preparation of food, improper ingredient storage and failure to use food scraps and trimmings can also contribute to food loss. 44 The common practice of keeping buffets fully stocked during business hours (rather than allowing items to run out near closing) creates even more waste.

Food Waste in Households

Households are responsible for the largest portion of all food waste. ReFED estimates that US households waste 76 billion pounds of food per year. 54 In reality, “sell by” and “use by” dates are not federally regulated and only serve as manufacturer suggestions for peak quality. Research on date labeling from the UK suggests that standardizing food date labeling and clarifying its meaning to the public could reduce household food waste by as much as 20 percent. 57

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Use compost bins to prevent and reduce food waste How to Get Started

The Biggest Reasons Food Gets Wasted

There are several macro-level drivers of the food waste problem in the US and globally. One is the difficulty of turning new consumer awareness into action. Public awareness about food waste in the US has improved significantly over the last few years. This is largely due to the efforts of organizations like the Ad Council and their Save the Food campaign, and coverage of the topic from Last Week Tonight with John Oliver, National Geographic, BBC, Consumer Reports and the more than 3,300 articles written about the issue by major news and business outlets between 2011 and 2016 — a 205 percent increase over that period. 58

Additionally, in 2015, the USDA and the US Environmental Protection Agency adopted federal targets to cut food waste by 50 percent by 2030. 59 In 2016 a survey by the Ad Council of 6700 adults, 75 percent of respondents said that food waste was important or very important to them. However, limited data makes it difficult to assess whether this awareness has turned into action and whether or not people are actually wasting less food now than they were before. Homes remain a large source of food waste and more needs to be done to help educate the public and provide people with resources to help them implement food saving practices at home. 60

Another reason why food waste has become such a large problem is that it has not been effectively measured or studied. A comprehensive report on food losses in the US is needed to characterize and quantify the problem, identify opportunities and establish benchmarks against which progress can be measured. A study of this type by the European Commission in 2010 proved to be an important tool for establishing reduction goals in Europe and can serve as a model for US policymakers. 61

What Are the Environmental Impacts of Food Waste?

Only five percent of food is composted in the US and as a result, uneaten food is the single largest component of municipal solid waste. 63 According to a report from the UK based organization WRAP, if food were removed from UK landfills, the greenhouse gas abatement would be equivalent to removing one-fifth of all the cars in the UK from the road.

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Hide References

  1. Gunders, Dana. “Wasted: How America is Losing Up to 40 Percent of Its Food from Farm to Fork to Landfill.” Natural Resources Defense Council, 2017. Retrieved March 7, 2019, from https://www.nrdc.org/sites/default/files/wasted-2017-report.pdf
  2. Ibid.
  3. Ibid.
  4. Economic Research Service. “Food Security in the U.S.: Key Statistics & Graphics.” USDA, October 2017. Retrieved March 7, 2019, from https://www.ers.usda.gov/topics/food-nutrition-assistance/food-security-in-the-us/key-statistics-graphics.aspx
  5. United States Department of Agriculture. “USDA and EPA Join with Private Sector, Charitable Organizations to Set Nation’s First Food Waste Reduction Goals. Press Release No. 0257.15” USDA, September 16, 2015. Retrieved March 7, 2019, from https://www.usda.gov/media/press-releases/2015/09/16/usda-and-epa-join-private-sector-charitable-organizations-set
  6. Thyberg, Krista L., and David J. Tonjes. “Drivers of Food Waste and Their Implications for Sustainable Policy Development.” Resources, Conservation and Recycling, vol. 106, 2016, pp. 110–123. Retrieved 14 April, 2020, from https://commons.library.stonybrook.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1020&context=techsoc-articles
  7. Ibid.
  8. Ibid.
  9. United States Department of Agriculture, Office of the Chief Economist. “U.S. Food Waste Challenge: FAQ’s.” USDA, June 2013. Retrieved April 2015, from https://www.usda.gov/oce/foodwaste/faqs.htm 
  10. Economic Research Service. “Energy Use in the US Food System.” USDA, March 2010. Retrieved March 7, 2019, from https://www.ers.usda.gov/publications/pub-details/?pubid=46377
  11. Lubowski, Ruben N. et al. “Major Uses of Land in the United States, 2002.” USDA Economic Research Service, May 2006. Retrieved March 7, 2019, from https://ageconsearch.umn.edu/record/7203/files/ei060014.pdf
  12. Economic Research Service. “Irrigation & Water Use.” USDA, 2018. Retrieved March 7, 2019, from https://www.ers.usda.gov/topics/farm-practices-management/irrigation-water-use/ 
  13. ReFED. “A Roadmap to Reduce U.S. Food Waste By 20 Percent.” ReFED, 2016. Retrieved March 7, 2019, from https://www.refed.com/downloads/ReFED_Report_2016.pdf
  14. Yaffe-bellany, David, and Michael Corkery. “Dumped Milk, Smashed Eggs, Plowed Vegetables: Food Waste of the Pandemic.” The New York Times, The New York Times, 11 Apr. 2020. Retrieved 14 April, 2020, from www.nytimes.com/2020/04/11/business/coronavirus-destroying-food.html
  15. Charles, Dan. “Food Shortages? Nope, Too Much Food In The Wrong Places.” NPR, NPR, 3 Apr. 2020. Retrieved 14 April 2020, from www.npr.org/sections/thesalt/2020/04/03/826006362/food-shortages-nope-too-much-food-in-the-wrong-places
  16. Gunders, Dana. “Wasted: How America is Losing Up to 40 Percent of Its Food from Farm to Fork to Landfill.” Natural Resources Defense Council, 2017. Retrieved March 7, 2019, from https://www.nrdc.org/sites/default/files/wasted-2017-report.pdf
  17. Ibid.
  18. Food and Agriculture Organization of the United States: Fisheries and Aquaculture Department. “Discards in the world’s marine fisheries: An update.” FAO, 2005. Retrieved March 7, 2019, from https://www.fao.org/tempref/docrep/fao/008/y5936e/y5936e00.pdf
  19. Bergmann, Melanie. “Damage sustained by epibenthic invertebrates discarded in the Nephrops fishery of the Clyde Sea area, Scotland.” Journal of Sea Research, 45 (2): 105–118  (February 2001). Retrieved from: https://epic.awi.de/10387/
  20. Stuart, Tristram. “The global food waste scandal.” TED, Salon London, Spring 2012. Retrieved March 7, 2019, from https://www.ted.com/talks/tristram_stuart_the_global_food_waste_scandal?language=en
  21. Block, Ben. “European Fisheries Law Undergoes Review.” World Watch Institute, 2013. Retrieved March 8, 2019, from https://www.worldwatch.org/node/5892
  22. Love, Dave C. et al. “Wasted seafood in the United States: Quantifying loss from production to consumption and moving toward solutions.” Global Environmental Change, 35, 116-124 (November 2015). Retrieved March 7, 2019, from https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0959378015300340
  23. Food and Agriculture Organization of the United States: Fisheries and Aquaculture Department. “Discards in the world’s marine fisheries: An update.” FAO, 2005. Retrieved March 7, 2019, from https://www.fao.org/tempref/docrep/fao/008/y5936e/y5936e00.pdf 
  24. Groenewold, Stefan and Fonds, Mark. “Effects on benthic scavengers of discards and damaged benthos produced by the beam-trawl fishery in the southern North Sea.” ICES Journal of Marine Science, 57(5): 1395-1406 (October 2000). Retrieved March 7, 2019, from https://doi.org/10.1006/jmsc.2000.0914
  25. Gunders, Dana. “Wasted: How America is Losing Up to 40 Percent of Its Food from Farm to Fork to Landfill.” Natural Resources Defense Council, 2017. Retrieved March 7, 2019, from https://www.nrdc.org/sites/default/files/wasted-2017-report.pdf
  26. Groenewold, Stefan and Fonds, Mark. “Effects on benthic scavengers of discards and damaged benthos produced by the beam-trawl fishery in the southern North Sea.” ICES Journal of Marine Science, 57(5): 1395-1406 (October 2000). Retrieved March 7, 2019, from https://doi.org/10.1006/jmsc.2000.0914
  27. Food and Agriculture Organization of the United States: Fisheries and Aquaculture Department. “Discards in the world’s marine fisheries: An update.” FAO, 2005. Retrieved March 7, 2019, from https://www.fao.org/tempref/docrep/fao/008/y5936e/y5936e00.pdf
  28. Gunders, Dana. “Wasted: How America is Losing Up to 40 Percent of Its Food from Farm to Fork to Landfill.” Natural Resources Defense Council, 2017. Retrieved March 7, 2019, from https://www.nrdc.org/sites/default/files/wasted-2017-report.pdf
  29. Douglas, Leah. “Chicken Company to Cull Birds as Processing Capacity Plummets.” Food and Environment Reporting Network, 12 Apr. 2020. Retrieved 14 April 2020, from thefern.org/ag_insider/chicken-company-to-cull-birds-as-processing-capacity-plummets/
  30. Ibid.
  31. Ibid.
  32. Ibid.
  33. Buzby, Jean C. et al. “The Value of Retail- and Consumer-Level Fruit and Vegetable Losses in the United States.” The Journal of Consumer Affairs, Fall 2011, 492-515. Retrieved April  2015 from https://ucanr.edu/datastoreFiles/234-2202.pdf
  34. Economic Research Service. “Food Security in the U.S.: Key Statistics & Graphics.” USDA, 2017. Retrieved March 7, 2019, from https://www.ers.usda.gov/topics/food-nutrition-assistance/food-security-in-the-us/key-statistics-graphics.aspx
  35. Gunders, Dana. “Wasted: How America is Losing Up to 40 Percent of Its Food from Farm to Fork to Landfill.” Natural Resources Defense Council, 2017. Retrieved March 7, 2019, from https://www.nrdc.org/sites/default/files/wasted-2017-report.pdf
  36. Buzby, Jean C. et al. “The Estimated Amount, Value, and Calories of Postharvest Food Losses at the Retail and Consumer Levels in the United States.” Economic Research Service, USDA, February 2014. Retrieved March 7, 2019, from https://www.ers.usda.gov/webdocs/publications/43833/43680_eib121.pdf 
  37. Gunders, Dana. “Wasted: How America is Losing Up to 40 Percent of Its Food from Farm to Fork to Landfill.” Natural Resources Defense Council, 2017. Retrieved March 7, 2019, from https://www.nrdc.org/sites/default/files/wasted-2017-report.pdf
  38. Ibid.
  39. Harvard Food Law and Policy Clinic. “Recommendations to Strengthen the Bill Emerson Good Samaritan Act.” NRDC, September 2017. Retrieved March 7, 2019, from https://www.nrdc.org/sites/default/files/recommendations-bill-emerson-good-samaritan-act-fs.pdf 
  40. Gunders, Dana. “Wasted: How America is Losing Up to 40 Percent of Its Food from Farm to Fork to Landfill.” Natural Resources Defense Council, 2017. Retrieved March 7, 2019, from https://www.nrdc.org/sites/default/files/wasted-2017-report.pdf
  41. Ibid.
  42. Bloom, Jonathan. American Wasteland: How America Throws Away Nearly Half Its Food (and What We Can Do About It). Cambridge, MA: Da Capo Press. p 143.
  43. Gunders, Dana. “Wasted: How America is Losing Up to 40 Percent of Its Food from Farm to Fork to Landfill.” Natural Resources Defense Council, 2017. Retrieved March 7, 2019, from https://www.nrdc.org/sites/default/files/wasted-2017-report.pdf
  44. Ibid.
  45. Gunders, Dana. “Wasted: How America is Losing Up to 40 Percent of Its Food from Farm to Fork to Landfill.” Natural Resources Defense Council, 2017. Retrieved March 7, 2019, from https://www.nrdc.org/sites/default/files/wasted-2017-report.pdf
  46. Love, Dave C. et al. “Wasted seafood in the United States: Quantifying loss from production to consumption and moving toward solutions.” Global Environmental Change, 35, 116-124 (November 2015). Retrieved March 7, 2019, from https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0959378015300340 
  47. Gerlock, Grant. “To End Food Waste, Change Needs to Begin at Home.” NPR’s The Salt, November 17, 2014. Retrieved September 22, 2015, from https://www.npr.org/sections/thesalt/2014/11/17/364172105/to-end-food-waste-change-needs-to-begin-at-home
  48. Buzby, Jean C. et al. “The Estimated Amount, Value, and Calories of Postharvest Food Losses at the Retail and Consumer Levels in the United States.” Economic Research Service, USDA, February 2014. Retrieved March 7, 2019, from https://www.ers.usda.gov/webdocs/publications/43833/43680_eib121.pdf
  49. Gunders, Dana. “Wasted: How America is Losing Up to 40 Percent of Its Food from Farm to Fork to Landfill.” Natural Resources Defense Council, 2017. Retrieved March 7, 2019, from https://www.nrdc.org/sites/default/files/wasted-2017-report.pdf
  50. Natural Resources Defense Council. “Two-Thirds of Food Wasted at Home in Three Major U.S. Cities is Edible.” NRDC, October 25, 2017. Retrieved November 7, 2019, from https://www.nrdc.org/media/2017/171024-0
  51. Gunders, Dana. “Wasted: How America is Losing Up to 40 Percent of Its Food from Farm to Fork to Landfill.” Natural Resources Defense Council, 2017. Retrieved March 7, 2019, from https://www.nrdc.org/sites/default/files/wasted-2017-report.pdf
  52. Natural Resources Defense Council. “Two-Thirds of Food Wasted at Home in Three Major U.S. Cities is Edible.” NRDC, October 25, 2017. Retrieved November 7, 2019, from https://www.nrdc.org/media/2017/171024-0
  53. Lehner, Peter. “Tackling Food Waste at Home.” NRDC, August 21, 2012. Retrieved April 2015, from https://www.nrdc.org/experts/peter-lehner/tackling-food-waste-home
  54. Food Marketing Institute, “U.S. Grocery Shopper Trends 2015,” FMI, 2015. Retrieved March 7, 2019, from https://www.fmi.org/forms/store/ProductFormPublic/u-s-grocery-shopper-trends-2015-full-report
  55. Waste & Resources Action Programme. “Consumer insight: date labels and storage guide.” WRAP, May 2011. Retrieved March 7, 2019, from https://www.wrap.org.uk/sites/files/wrap/Technical%20report%20dates.pdf
  56. Gunders, Dana. “Wasted: How America is Losing Up to 40 Percent of Its Food from Farm to Fork to Landfill.” Natural Resources Defense Council, 2017. Retrieved March 7, 2019, from https://www.nrdc.org/sites/default/files/wasted-2017-report.pdf
  57. Ibid.
  58. Ibid.
  59. Ibid.
  60. Ibid.
  61. Ibid.
  62. US Environmental Protection Agency. “Sustainable Management of Food Basics.” EPA, 2017. Retrieved March 7, 2019, from https://www.epa.gov/sustainable-management-food/sustainable-management-food-basics
  63. Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. “Climate Change 2013: The Physical Science Basis.” Fifth Assessment Report, Table 8.7. Cambridge University Press, 2013. Retrieved March 7, 2019, from https://www.climatechange2013.org/images/report/WG1AR5_ALL_FINAL.pdf
  64. Waste & Resources Action Programme. “New estimates for household food and drink waste in the UK. Final report (version 1.1)” WRAP, November 2011. Retrieved March 7, 2019, from https://www.wrap.org.uk/sites/files/wrap/New%20estimates%20for%20household%20food%20and%20drink%20waste%20in%20the%20UK%20FINAL%20v2%20(updated%207thAugust2012).pdf
  65. McKinsey & Company. “Resource revolution: Meeting the world’s energy, materials, food and water needs.” McKinsley Global Institute, November 2011. Retrieved from March 7, 2019, from  https://www.mckinsey.com/business-functions/sustainability-and-resource-productivity/our-insights/resource-revolution
  66. Hall, Kevin D. “The Progressive Increase of Food Waste in America and Its Environmental Impact.” PlosOne, November 25, 2009. Retrieved March 7, 2019, from https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0007940

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