"There is food for everyone on this planet, but not everyone eats" - Carlo Petrini

And each year, 119 billion pounds of food is thrown away...

Stages of Food Loss and Waste

1 = most wasteful, 50 = least wasteful

What waste?

So what makes up all this food waste? Much of the food lost in the U.S. are fresh produce, due to

• Loss from mold, pests, or inadequate storage/climate control
  
• Cooking loss and natural shrinkage
  
• Food wasted at the table, overestimating amounts
  

How much waste do food retail, food service, and residential sectors manage?

* interactive charts and graphs: hover over section to identify more sectors that deal with the waste

What types of businesses produce the most waste? Here's a closeup look at the largest food scrap generators in only one state, Vermont. Click on the dropdown to view more options.

It’s estimated that U.S. food loss and waste contribute 170 million metric tons of carbon dioxide equivalent greenhouse gas emissions, and this doesn't include the significant amount of methane emissions from food waste rotting in landfills.

Studies show if food waste was eliminated from landfills, the corresponding result in the emission of greenhouse gases would be equivalent to removing 20% of all cars in the U.S. from the road - that is 1 in every 5 cars.

Many natural and processed resources are wasted when food is wasted. This includes:

Food waste contributes to about 7% of all greenhouse gas emissions, and its carbon footprint is estimated at 3.3 billion tons of CO2 equivalent greenhouse gases released into the atmosphere each year.

Furthermore, food that is wasted accounts for about 25% of all water used in agriculture each year and cropland for about the size of China.

Over 2% of the nation's energy is dedicated to producing food that ends up being wasted. This is equivalent to:

16 billion gallons of gasoline - enough to cover 6 weeks of gasoline use by everyone in the U.S.

OR

586 kilowatt-hours of electricity - enough to cover the electricity for 54 million households for a year.

Its Effects

on Us

Though we've focused on the environmental costs of food waste, It is also important to note that the humanitarian and economic costs are also intertwined heavily with this subject.

Food waste releases greenhouse gasses that contribute to extreme weather conditions in low-income countries, causing an uptick in unfavorable conditions for food to grow in, meaning more people go hungry.

The food we waste and lose every year requires land larger than the surface area of China and India.

Alongside the fact that food waste is related to hunger, American consumers, businesses, and farms lose a lot as well, spending up to $218 billion of our gross domestic product, growing, processing, and disposing of food that is never eaten. Businesses take $74 billion loss on food waste every year.

The National Resource Defense Council

In 2015, the U.S. Department of Agriculture and the Environmental Protection Agency announced a national food waste reduction goal, calling for a 50% reduction by 2030. The EPA's Food Recovery Hierarchy is featured to the right, with prevention and donation being the first steps to take, and management of food and scraps to achieve the highest beneficial use is next.

Lend A Hand

most preferred

least preferred

Shop Wisely: make meal plans, use shopping lists, avoid impulse buys.

Learn When Food Goes Bad: know the difference between "USE-BY" and "BEST-BY" dates

Use Your Freezer: freeze fresh produce and leftovers if you won't have a chance to eat them before they go bad.

Eat Leftovers: if you eat out, package the leftovers and take them home.

Donate Food: non-perishable and unspoiled perishable food can be donated to local food banks, soup kitchens, pantries, and shelters.

about us

Sophomore Information Science major at University of Maryland, from Spencerville Maryland, contributed to homepage, learn more, and "What Waste" page of website; passionate about programming, design, social good, and healthcare. Loves competing in hackathons and putting coding skills to use on personal projects.

High school senior at County Prep High School in New Jersey; aims to study engineer or computer science in college and higher education; created and contributed to two pages of website: "At What Cost" and "Lend A Hand"; passionate about coding,STEM, and advancing technology, along with design and usability.

High school senior in Illinois; contributed to "Its Effects on Us" page; passionate about coding and programming; aims to study Computer Science and become a Computer Programmer.