By Ben Schiller,Ben Schiller

We wrote last week about our giant food waste problem. Here's more fuel for the fire: an infographic from U.K. food industry magazine Next Generation Food that illustrates the environmental impact of wasted food.

The infographic includes some remarkable statistics taken from a peer-reviewed study about food waste in the U.S. Waste has increased by about 50% since 1974, and now accounts for nearly 40% of all food produced in the U.S. Across the supply chain, we lose 1,400 kilocalories per head per day, or 150 trillion kilocalories each year (kilocalories are the "calories" you see on the back of food packs). Food waste accounts for a quarter of the freshwater supply, and 300 million gallons of oil a year. That's a lot of wasted resources at a time of water shortages and higher gas prices. The U.S. consumed 6.9 billion barrels of oil last year, according to the Energy Information Administration.

It wouldn't be so bad if we did something with the waste other than throwing it in landfills, where it produces methane, a powerful greenhouse gas. Food accounts for 25% of methane produced from landfills, which emit 20% of methane overall. Something to chew on.

2 Comments

1. 1. geojellyroll 02:44 PM 9/6/12

   Not the complete story. Economics breeds efficiency.
   
   What is missing in all of this is that there are efficiencies is scale, distribution, etc. A few examples:
   
   It is more efficient use of resources to grow lettuces in California on as massive scale, ship them to Canada and incur 10% loss in the process. To grow those lettuces where i live with no food loss might, however, take 50% more resources to grow the lettuce I eventually eat.
   
   If a buy a bag of 12 oranges and 2 get mold before i eat them, it was more efficient than driving to the store 3 times to buy 4 oranges of which none get mold.
   
   I have an apple tree in my backyard...I get several hundred apples of which I might eat 10%. If we all had an apple tree it would produce more methane from rotting fruit than the one of 5 or so apples we toss after bringing them home fronm the store.

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2. 2. new_thought 09:50 AM 9/15/12

   Your economic breeds efficiency line seems incredibly outmoded in the face of our 21st century problems.
   
   Is it more efficient to have wasted material going to landfill all because YOU believe it would be less efficient to change YOUR life-style?
   
   It's way more efficient for me to grow my own herbs and vegetables than to travel to a store. It is far more efficient for me to live within 10 blocks of my place of work and to walk there or take public transit than it is to drive all the time.
   
   I would like to know how it would possibly take 50% more resources to grow lettuce on your own. How on earth is that the case? My partner and I grew all our own vegetables this summer and she and I used were seeds and water and soil. Nutrient-rich soil was readily available because we compost and so does the town in which we live. Everything was organic and we used companion planting to protect from pests. We walked 5 minutes to the community garden. There are thousands of people doing the same - how is this inefficient? Less pollution, less pesticides, less packaging, less travel time, less water used, less footprint on the earth, less money spent, less errands, less strain on the health care system... Why don't you give it a try and start living in the 21st century :)
   
   

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