According to the U.S. Department of Agriculture's Food Loss Project, Americans throw away more than 25 percent—some 25.9 million tons—of all the food we produce for domestic sale and consumption.
Image: Patrick Michael Mcleon, courtesy Flickr
Dear EarthTalk: What are the environmental implications of all the food we throw away here in the United States?
—Mike Schiller, Cambridge, Mass.
Food waste is a huge issue in America, especially in light of the growing divide between the profligate rich and the hungry poor. According to the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Food Loss Project, we throw away more than 25 percent—some 25.9 million tons—of all the food we produce for domestic sale and consumption. A 2004 University of Arizona study pegs the figure at closer to 50 percent, finding that Americans squander some $43 billion annually on wasted food. Lead researcher Timothy Jones reported that on average, U.S. households waste 14 percent of their food purchases. He estimates that a family of four tosses out $590 per year in meat, fruits, vegetables and grain products alone.
Once this food gets to the landfill, it then generates methane, a greenhouse gas 23 times as potent as carbon dioxide in trapping heat within our atmosphere. According to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, landfills account for 34 percent of all methane emissions in the U.S.—meaning that the sandwich you made and then didn’t eat yesterday is increasing your personal—and our collective—carbon footprint.
Furthermore, researchers at the National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases (NIDDK) concluded in a 2009 study that each year a quarter of U.S. water consumption and over 300 million barrels of oil (four percent of U.S. oil consumption) go into producing and distributing food that ultimately ends up in landfills. They add that per-capita food waste has increased by half since 1974, and suggest that the “U.S. obesity epidemic” may be the result of a “push effect” of increased food availability and marketing to Americans unable to match their food intake with the increased supply of cheap food.
In spite of all this, environmentalists are optimistic that Americans can reduce their food waste. For one, restaurants and markets are increasingly finding outlets—including soup kitchens feeding the poor and farms looking for cheap animal feed—for food they would otherwise toss. Some communities now pick-up and centrally compost food waste from commercial and residential buildings and put the resulting nutrient-rich soil to use in municipal projects or for sale to the public. And a few enterprising cities now have waste-to-energy technologies that extract methane from landfills for use as fuel.
An extreme reaction to the food waste issue is “freeganism,” a movement of people who live on the food cast off by others. These “dumpster divers” share, in the words of movement founder Warren Oakes, “an anti-consumeristic ethic about eating” and not only avoid creating waste but live off that caused by others.
Going freegan might be a bit much for most of us, but we can all take action to minimize food waste. The University of Arizona’s Jones suggests more careful purchase planning, including devising complete menus and grocery lists, and knowing what foods are lurking in the fridge and pantry that should be used before they go bad. And don’t forget that many foods can be frozen and enjoyed later. Jones contends that if we as a nation were able to cut our food waste in half we’d extend the lifespan of landfills by decades and reduce soil depletion and the application of untold tons of fertilizers, pesticides and herbicides.
CONTACTS: University of Arizona Food Waste Study, www.communitycompost.org/info/usafood.pdf; NIDDK, www.niddk.nih.gov; Freegans, www.freegan.info
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8 Comments
Add CommentI don't know of ONE American that throws away 25% of their food.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisAren't we really talking about major food producers artificially inflating the cost of food through supply and demand by getting rid of some of the supply?
Like throwing milk down the drain, etc?
I remember reading a MAD "article" from somewhere from the 80s or 90s that it was more like 70%. Not exactly scientific journalism, but I'm pretty sure they didn't invent it. They must have got it from somewhere. I, for one, not living in the US and throwing away at least 25%, think that 25% is ridiculously small for the US.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisThe problem is more complex than you think though - what do we consider "discarded food"? Do you consider the last 1cm of a 500g container of sour cream to be "discarded food"? If yes, then 25% is wildly conservative, if no then it might be almost accurate. Do you consider all the meat left on the bones after carving up your Thanksgiving turkey as "discarded food"? There's a great argument that it is discarded food - make a soup out of it and it will be used to ~95%, but who really wants to make soup out of turkey bones?
At the end of the day, I don't think that most first world countries are very different from the US. Sure, there's more waste in the US but compared with the poor nations probably not by that much. Though if you go by what we see on the screen, the number of people who finish what they are served in a US movie and what they are served anywhere else (and eat), you might think so!
This crude example is maybe more telling than one might think in terms of general culture, and differences with other cultures. When I see a full plate of food wasted in some blockbuster I am disgusted (it looked so delicious!). The fact that the scene is left in the final cut means that the editor/director is not, and that means the general public won't be either (unless for effect). It maybe has a lot to do with the value that a society places on food. I'm also anglo-saxon and know that we aren't particularly reverent of food. Are you going to re-heat and eat leftover McDonalds? I have lived in China, and been taken out for meals with 30+ individual dishes (for 4-6 people, some of whom had already eaten). We ate around 20% of what was on the table. What happened to the rest? Boxed up and taken home. When the food is worth buying, it's worth eating 2 days later. Unfortunately us anglo-saxons rarely make food that is worth eating at all, and 2 days later you can be sure that even rats would turn their noses up at it.
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I remember reading a MAD "article" from somewhere from the 80s or 90s that it was more like 70%. Not exactly scientific journalism, but I'm pretty sure they didn't invent it. They must have got it from somewhere. I, for one, not living in the US and throwing away at least 25%, think that 25% is ridiculously small for the US.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisThe problem is more complex than you think though - what do we consider "discarded food"? Do you consider the last 1cm of a 500g container of sour cream to be "discarded food"? If yes, then 25% is wildly conservative, if no then it might be almost accurate. Do you consider all the meat left on the bones after carving up your Thanksgiving turkey as "discarded food"? There's a great argument that it is discarded food - make a soup out of it and it will be used to ~95%, but who really wants to make soup out of turkey bones?
At the end of the day, I don't think that most first world countries are very different from the US. Sure, there's more waste in the US but compared with the poor nations probably not by that much. Though if you go by what we see on the screen, the number of people who finish what they are served in a US movie and what they are served anywhere else (and eat), you might think so!
This crude example is maybe more telling than one might think in terms of general culture, and differences with other cultures. When I see a full plate of food wasted in some blockbuster I am disgusted (it looked so delicious!). The fact that the scene is left in the final cut means that the editor/director is not, and that means the general public won't be either (unless for effect). It maybe has a lot to do with the value that a society places on food. I'm also anglo-saxon and know that we aren't particularly reverent of food. Are you going to re-heat and eat leftover McDonalds? I have lived in China, and been taken out for meals with 30+ individual dishes (for 4-6 people, some of whom had already eaten). We ate around 20% of what was on the table. What happened to the rest? Boxed up and taken home. When the food is worth buying, it's worth eating 2 days later. Unfortunately us anglo-saxons rarely make food that is worth eating at all, and 2 days later you can be sure that even rats would turn their noses up at it.
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It is simple economics. Food is quite cheap here in the U.S. relative to our incomes. Therefore we are likely to discard extra food for very minor reasons. Many leftovers just aren't up to par with freshly prepared food, and so they languish in the refrigerator until spoiled. We opt for quality over saving money. And Americans demonstrate time after time that they value saving money over paying more to help the environment, so that line of attack is unlikely to reduce food waste.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisI am as guilty as most everyone else. At least my food rarely spoils, although my dog does eat well.
I work for Meijer, a northern Walmart type place, in the produce department. We throw away hundreds of pounds of produce daily, most of it perfectly good produce. If there is is slightest blemish people will not buy it, if it does not have the same shine it did when it was fresh off the truck yesterday, they won'[t touch it. We cannot donate it, for of course legal reasons. It all goes into a landfill where it will be encased in clay lined holes for all eternity. It is soooo wrong.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisSeems we can't win with environmentalists. Isn't this a form of carbon storage? What percent of the carbon gets back into the atmosphere as methane? If this is a problem, capture it and use it.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisAre you sure? Food waste isn't just food that's thrown away. It can also be unused food. I know many people who have canned foods and other foods in their pantries. Even expired food counts as food waste. Yeah, groceries and buffets do waste food as well but every one who doesn't use food does too.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisMy local Council (Angus, Scotland)currently uses methane capture to run generators and produce electricity which is fed back to the grid. It's a relatively simple process, and personally I cant understand anyone who does not do the same.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisThat said however, there are currently numerous Anaerobic Digesters systems which are coming to the fore with the objectives of providing A) disposal, B) Avoiding landfill and it's associated taxation, C)providing a clean fertilizer at low cost, D)Powering the electricity grid with a relatively cheap source of electricity, E) preventing the escape of harmful methane.
The next order of disposal is the Gasifier, which runs at 3000 to 6000 degC in a reduced oxygen atmosphere using Plasma arcs to heat the pre-pulverised feedstock to provide Syngas, a mixture of methane and CO2.
The CO2 is then stripped and saved (CCS), leaving the methane available for use either as a direct fuel for generation, or as feedstock for Gas-To-Liquid (GTL)processing via Fischer Tropsch technology.
Methane can also be further separated into H2 and CO, again, the carbon compounds are removed and the Hydrogen used via fuel cells to produce electricity.
Have a good look at www.afcenergy.co.uk and lincenergy.com
There lies the future!